Meet the little-known African tortoise with a hatchback for a shell (2024)

Evolution thought of everything long before we did. Take the case of the foresthinge-backtortoise(Kinixys erosa) found in the Congo Basin, as well as parts of West Africa and all the way east to Lake Victoria. The forest hinge-back and other tortoises in the genus Kinixys all have a strange attribute resembling a hatchback on a car. These tortoises can swing the backs of their shells 90 degrees downward.

This hatchback or hinge “allows them to close off their vulnerable rear opening,”says Pearson McGovern, an independent tortoise researcher who has worked with the forest hinge-back tortoise.

But it’s hinge-back isn’t the only thing that sets the forest species apart. It’s also the largest of all the other members of the Kinixys genus and is incredibly good at camouflage.

EdemEniang, executive director of the Biodiversity Preservation Center in Nigeria, says the tortoise has an “uncanny ability to blend with their environment … makes them appear magical and undetected by their enemies including hunters.”

He says it look like a rock until you investigate more closely. It’s also “extremely calm,” and while mainly a land-dwelling creature, it’s also adept in the water.

“[It has an] incredible ability to swim perfectly floating on the surface and diving deep to hunt for fish,” Eniang says.

And it will eat pretty much anything. Luca Luiselli, a field ecologist and expert on African tortoises, says the species’ diet includes fungi, fruits, invertebrates and even carrion.

Unfortunately, though, the tortoise’s hinge can’t protect it from its most dangerous predator: humans. Local people have long hunted the tortoise.

“They are revered culturally and utilized extensively, not only as bushmeats but also for fetish practices and traditional medicine,” Eniang says.

He says in some place locals will burn the tortoise’s shell and ground it into powder for children suffering calcium deficiencies. The brain and eggs of the tortoise is believed to treat infants who are slow to learn to walk, while the meat of the tortoise is used in love potions aimed at men. Meanwhile, “Live animals are used in some native rituals for casting spells on people,” Eniang says.

Risky trade

The IUCN Red List currently considers the foresthinge-backtortoise as data deficient, an assessment made in 1996. This means there simply wasn’t enough information at the time to determine the species’ conservation status.

“One reason the IUCN has the species listed as [data deficient] is because we lack data from many range countries, with even basic distribution and abundance data missing from entire countries in which it occurs,” McGovern says.

Luiselli notes the species is “provisionally ranked” as endangered by the IUCN’s Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group. (Both Luiselli and McGovern are members of the group.) Luiselli says that in addition to overconsumption, the species is threatened by deforestation and habitat destruction.

McGovern adds that while the species is “heavily collected” in the Congo Basin, there’s “virtually no data on local abundances throughout the region.”

This has left researchers a little in the dark about how the species might be faring overall.

A little-known eco hero

Despite being not particular large — they usually weigh less than 1.4 kilograms, or 3 pounds — the forest hinge-back tortoise plays an outsized role in its ecosystem.

Eniang says its propensity for digging and building burrows creates habitat for all sorts of other animals, such as insects and invertebrates.

“The tortoises are the champions of the under-litter communities,” he says. “Animals find tortoises’ burrows, crevices and chambers as useful hiding places and safe havens during forest fires.”

It’s also an important spreader of plant seeds and fungi.

“It disperses countless seeds along the forest floor as it moves, creating the next generation of fruiting trees for all to use,” says McGovern, who adds he believes the tortoise’s role in the forest is “underappreciated.”

Although the tortoise faces numerous threats, McGovern says the biggest hurdle in better protecting the forest hinge-back and other similar obscure species is a lack of funding.

“[Tortoises], in general, and Africa, in particular, lack funding for field ecological research, and this is the biggest hindrance to successful conservation actions for many of Africa’s overlooked microfaunal species,” he says. He notes that there’s local interest in the animal, but education and funding are needed for proper data collection in the field.

“In a world whereby the majority of people are attracted to large, colorful, aggressive and at times charismatic wildlife species,” Eniang says, “a slow, shy, quiet, cryptic and non-nuisance animal will remain almost always elusive and unnoticed.”

Banner image: Front view of a confiscated forest hingeback tortoise in Côte d’Ivoire with damage to the nuchal area. Image by Pearson McGovern.