The world's largest continental tortoise and its neighbors.

Our giant's name is Marcus, he is a male African spurred tortoise. The African spurred tortoise (Geochelone sulcata) is the largest of the continental land tortoises and the third largest in the world, after the Galapagos tortoise (endemic to the Galapagos Islands) and the Floreana giant tortoise (inhabitant of the Seychelles). The tortoise got its name from the hard growths on its hind legs that resemble spurs.

Marcus is still young, he was born in 2012, now his weight reaches 32 kg (this species can have a body weight of up to 100 kg), the length of the shell of the tortoise is about 60 cm.

Marcus is a large animal, so it was possible to see him earlier in Mykolaiv Zoo only in the summer, when the tortoises were moved to a spacious open-air summer enclosure specially built for them. In winter, Marcus was kept indoors, as there was no exhibit terrarium of big size for him.

But now Marcus can be seen in the former terrarium of Vasya the crocodile (our favorite, unfortunately, he recently died), which was temporarily equipped to keep large tortoises. Markus has already mastered the new enclosure, he is very active, looks spectacular and impressive, and is extremely interesting to watch. Neighbors of the giant are the rare radiated tortoise (Astrochelys radiata), which is our old-timer because it was born in 1983, yellow-footed tortoises (Chelonoidis denticulata), and red-footed tortoises (Chelonoidis carbonaria), so named for their anthracite-black shell and red-orange spots on the head and feet that resemble red-hot coals.