Ecology and Behaviour
The angonoka tortoise has been observed feeding on grasses found in open rocky areas of bamboo scrub. It is also known to eat shrubs, forbs, and herbs. While it has been seen eating dead bamboo leaves, it has never been observed eating living bamboo. As well as these plants, the tortoise has also been seen eating the dried feces of bushpigs and carnivores.
The introduced bushpig is the main predator of the Angonoka tortoise and eats the tortoises' eggs and young.
It is expected to become sexually mature at at least 15 years old. The tortoise can produce one to six eggs per clutch and up to four clutches every season. The reproductive season is from January 15 to May 30. The angonoka tortoise's reproductive patterns coincide with the seasonal rainfall patterns of the region, with both mating and hatching occurring at the onset of the rainy seasons. With a 71.9% fertility rate and a 54.6% hatching success rate, about 4.3 hatchlings are produced per female tortoise.
In captivity males must be separated due to aggression towards each other, including ramming, pushing, and overturning with the enlarged gular scute. The aggression is used to establish dominance.
Read more about this topic: Angonoka Tortoise
Famous quotes containing the words ecology and/or behaviour:
“... the fundamental principles of ecology govern our lives wherever we live, and ... we must wake up to this fact or be lost.”
—Karin Sheldon (b. c. 1945)
“I look on it as no trifling effort of female strength to withstand the artful and ardent solicitations of a man that is thoroughly master of our hearts. Should we in the conflict come off victorious, it hardly pays us for the pain we suffer from the experiment ... and I still persist in it that such a behaviour in any man I love would rob me of that most pleasing thought, namely, the obligation I have to him for not making such a trial.”
—Sarah Fielding (1710–1768)