The tortoise with the back door in its shell

The shell of the tortoise is a mobile home that protects it from many possible dangers such as predators, bad weather, and falling objects. But it is not perfectly protective. The tortoise can pull its head and legs into its shell, but it is still vulnerable in the back of its shell, where there is an opening for its tail and back legs.

Front view of a confiscated forest hinge-back tortoise in Côte d’Ivoire. Image by Pearson McGovern.

The forest hinge-back and other tortoises in the genus Kinixys have solved the problem of the back shell opening. These tortoises can swing the backs of their shells 90 degrees downward, providing a back door to their shells that predators cannot penetrate. If a jackal tried to snatch a hinge-backed tortoise by its tail, the tortoise would close the back of its shell. SNAP! No tortoise snack for you, jackal.

A Home’s hinge-back tortoise, which is closely related to the forest hinge-back tortoise. Image courtesy of Edem Eniang.

The forest hinge-back tortoise of Africa lives in the Congo Basin, parts of West Africa, and east to Lake Victoria. The forest hinge-back is not a large tortoise. They usually weigh less than 1.4 kilograms (3 pounds). However, the forest hinge-back tortoise plays a large role in its ecosystem.

Edem Eniang, executive director of the Biodiversity Preservation Center in Nigeria, notes that the forest hinge-back tortoise digs and builds burrows that create habitat for all sorts of other animals, such as insects and invertebrates. “Animals find tortoises’ burrows, crevices, and chambers as useful hiding places and safe havens during forest fires,” he says.

Ivorian Office of Parks and Reserves as well as African Chelonian Institute staff prepare to release confiscated hinge-back tortoises back to the wild. Image by Pearson McGovern.

The tortoise is an important spreader of plant seeds and fungi. Pearson McGovern, a tortoise researcher, says: “It disperses countless seeds along the forest floor as it moves, creating the next generation of fruiting trees for all to use.”

The forest hinge-back tortoise’s hinge cannot protect it from its most dangerous predator: humans. People hunt the tortoise for food and use it in traditional medicines.

Edem Eniang inspecting tortoises at a market in Nigeria. Image courtesy of Edem Eniang.

Scientists are not sure how many hinge-back tortoises there are, nor how much they are hunted. Figuring out this information is important for their conservation.

David Brown adapted this story for Mongabay Kids. It is based on an article by Jeremy Hance, published on Mongabay News: