Turkish Tortoise Help: |
Author | Message |
Davew Senior Member Joined: 12 Jan 2004 No. of posts: 99 View other posts by Davew |
Posted: 08 Jan 2005 Hi, Don't actually have my notes to hand at the moment but was just wondering if anyone had any ideas for me. Turkey, Alanya. June 1994. A Tortoise sp was seen from the castle overlooking the town. Could this be narrowed down to species just from the location?? Any help at all would be appreciated. Additionaly if anyones familiar with the area would you know what the medium sized lizards would be which where commonly seen throughout the town usually on telegrpah poles etc. I know it's not much to go on but I wasn't as interested in reptiles back then as I am now. Thanks. |
David Bird Forum Specialist Joined: 17 Feb 2003 No. of posts: 515 View other posts by David Bird |
Posted: 13 Jan 2005 The area is correct for the Spur thighed Tortoise Testudo graeca. I would need more information on the lizard depends on what you mean by medium sized. David British Herpetological Society Librarian and member of B.H.S Conservation Committee. Self employed Herpetological Consultant and Field Worker. |
Davew Senior Member Joined: 12 Jan 2004 No. of posts: 99 View other posts by Davew |
Posted: 13 Jan 2005 Thanks for that - Would the only possibility be Spur-thighed or are there other species in the area? Forget about the lizards I didn't take sufficient notes to even slightly narrow it down although I may have an old photo - I'll have a look. |
David Bird Forum Specialist Joined: 17 Feb 2003 No. of posts: 515 View other posts by David Bird |
Posted: 18 Jan 2005 For that area the species is Testudo graeca there are other species some recently described in Turkey but not in the area you mentioned. British Herpetological Society Librarian and member of B.H.S Conservation Committee. Self employed Herpetological Consultant and Field Worker. |
Wolfgang Wuster Senior Member Joined: 23 Apr 2003 No. of posts: 326 View other posts by Wolfgang Wuster |
Posted: 19 Jan 2005 What were the lizards like? Greyish-black, robust and rather spiky, adult size roughly 30-35 cm length? In that case it was Laudakia stellio, and agama. Thjese are very common in souther Turkey. A search with the scientific name at images.google.co.uk will bring up a number of photos for comparison. Cheers, Wolfgang Wolfgang Wüster School of Biological Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor http://sbsweb.bangor.ac.uk/~bss166/ |
Davew Senior Member Joined: 12 Jan 2004 No. of posts: 99 View other posts by Davew |
Posted: 19 Jan 2005 That's exactly the sort of Lizard. If not that species then something very similar. Hopefully I can find a photo I may have taken - thanks for all the help. Incidentally Turkey in 1994 was my last foreign trip where I didn't take notes on Reptiles. |
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