Tortoise Spotlight One: Archie Tortoise

And now, for our first:  ~Tortoise Spotlight~

Allow me to introduce: Archie Tortoise!

Archie is a male red-footed tortoise given to me – along with his buddy, Lucky – by someone who was moving off island. They were the 4th and 5th tortoises added to my creep (in March, 2019).

Archie is on the top right, Lucky is the bottom left.

Archie came to me unnamed, so I named him after a hero of mine – Archie Carr – a trailblazer in the world of turtle research and conservation. You can learn more about Archie Carr here.

This is Archie Carr…doing what he did best.

Archie is very social. He is always one of the first tortoises to come out and greet you when you enter Torti Town. He will walk right up to you and stand on your feet.

When my sister-in-law Sara was visiting the island, I received this pic and text message from her while I was work, “Someone is pretty interested in me…”

Here are three distinguishing characteristics to help you identify Archie:

1) His head and legs are bright red (some red-footed tortoises are more yellow or orange):

Compare the redness of his head and legs to the more orange or yellow head and legs of the other two tortoises in this picture (Archie is circled in yellow).

2) His shell is pretty smooth (no pyramiding):

Compare how smooth his shell is to the other tortoises (Archie is circled in yellow).

3) He has a sideways “L” in an orange circle on the top center of his head: