page_title: Red-footed tortoise
section_title: Distribution and habitat
hierarchical_section_title: Red-footed tortoise / Distribution and habitat
caption_attribution_description: Red-footed Tortoise at the Barbados Wildlife Reserve, Saint Peter Parish, Barbados.
context_page_description: The red-footed tortoise is a species of tortoise from northern South America. These medium-sized tortoises generally average 30 cm as adults, but can reach over 40 cm. They have dark-colored, loaf-shaped carapaces with a lighter patch in the middle of each scute, and dark limbs with brightly colored scales that range from pale yellow to dark red. Recognized differences are seen between red-footed tortoises from different regions. They are closely related to the yellow-footed tortoise from the Amazon Basin. They are popularly kept as pets, and over-collection has caused them to be vulnerable to extinction.
  Their natural habitat ranges from savannah to forest edges around the Amazon Basin. They are omnivorous with a diet based on a wide assortment of plants, mostly fruit when available, but also including grasses, flowers, fungi, carrion, and invertebrates. They do not brumate, but may aestivate in hot, dry weather.
  Eggs, hatchlings, and juvenile tortoises are food for many predators, but the main threats for adults are jaguars and humans. Population density ranges from locally common to very scarce due in part to habitat destruction and over-collection for food and the pet trade.
context_section_description: Red-footed tortoises range from southeastern Panama to Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and Guiana in the north; south along the Andes to the west in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia; east to Brazil, and along the southern range in Bolivia, Paraguay, and possibly northern Argentina. They are not evenly distributed within their range. For example, they are not often found in central Brazil or in heavily forested areas in general, and have only documented in Peru since 1985. Accurate range information is complicated by the sheer size of the range, political and geographic barriers, and confusion about where many specimens were collected.
  They are also found on several Caribbean Islands, although it is not always clear if they are native or brought by humans. Many of the colonies seem to have been established in the 17th century as food supplies or as pets. They are found on the Netherlands Antilles, Trinidad, Tobago, Grenada, Barbados, St. Vincent, the Grenadines, Santa Lucia, Martinique, Dominica, Guadalupe, the Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico.
  The preferred habitat of the red-footed tortoise varies somewhat by region, but generally includes fairly consistent seasonal temperatures near 30 °C (86 °F) that rarely get lower than 20 °C (68 °F) or over 35 °C (95 °F), generally with high humidity and plenty of rainfall, although some of the areas can get quite dry. Most of the range experiences cooler wet seasons (April to August) and warmer dry seasons (September to March), but some parts of the southern range have occasional cold snaps. Red-footed tortoises are often found in or near transitional areas between forest and savannah, such as forest clearings, wood edges, or along waterways.
caption: Red-footed tortoise in Barbados
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