Biodiversity Gallery

Manouria emys (Schlegel and Muller, 1840): The Giant Asian Forest Tortoise, Manouria emys (Family Testudinidae), is the largest tortoise species in mainland Asia, with a straight carapace length (CL) of up to at least 600 mm, and mass up to 37 kg. Two subspecies, M. emys emys and M. emys phayrei, are distinguished by geographic distribution, coloration, plastral scute pattern, and maximum size. Manouria is among the most primitive of living tortoise genera. The sub-species known from northeastern state of India is M. emys phayrei (Blyth, 1853) in which pectoral scutes on plastron touches each other. It inhabits evergreen forests in the hills close to water. It lays 23-60 eggs per clutch that hatch in 60-75 days. Distribution: India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore (extirpated), and Thailand. From Assam in India and eastern Bangladesh in the west, through Myanmar and western Thailand, and south through peninsular Malaysia to Sumatra and Borneo in the east (Stanford et al., 2015). IUCN Red List status (2021): Critically Endangered (CR A2cd + 4cd)