Hermann's Tortoise
Testudo hermanni
Hermann’s tortoise is a terrestrial turtle found in southern Europe. Its rounded carapace is domed and can range from yellow, olive, or orange to dark brown.[3]
Size and lifespan
- Shell length
- maximum in a source 28 cm[4]
Appearance
The carapace is domed and highest behind its center. It ranges from yellow, olive, or orange to dark brown; the plastron is dark with a yellow border and midseam.[3]
Life
It favors evergreen Mediterranean oak forest and also occurs in dry meadows, scrub, rocky slopes, and farmland.[3]
At one Slovenian farm that mainly bred T. h. boettgeri, 18,520 Hermann’s tortoise eggs were artificially incubated; 3,557 did not hatch. Among the failures, 61.0% were classed as unfertilized, 52.5% infected, and 19.1% desiccated; some eggs fell into more than one category.[2]
Places
Native range · Southern Europe and Mediterranean islands[3]
Its range extends from northeastern Spain to Romania and European Turkey, as well as Mediterranean islands.
Sources
- Catalogue of Life 2026-09-25 XR
Catalogue of Life · 2026-10-13
- Monitoring of Unhatched Eggs in Hermann’s Tortoise (Testudo hermanni) after Artificial Incubation and Possible Improvements in Hatching
Animals (MDPI) · 2026-10-25
- Turtles of the World: Testudo hermanni
Naturalis, Turtles of the World · 2026-10-25
- ReptTraits v4: reported total, snout–vent and straight carapace lengths (Oskyrko et al., 2024)
Oskyrko, Mi, Meiri and Du / Figshare · 2026-10-27