How to Draw an African Spurred Tortoise

In this quick tutorial you'll learn how to draw an African Spurred Tortoise in 7 easy steps - great for kids and novice artists.

The images above represent how your finished drawing is going to look and the steps involved.

Below are the individual steps - you can click on each one for a High Resolution printable PDF version.

At the bottom you can read some interesting facts about the African Spurred Tortoise.

Make sure you also check out any of the hundreds of drawing tutorials grouped by category.

How to Draw an African Spurred Tortoise - Step-by-Step Tutorial

Step 1: Draw a square with a gap in one of the sides. Draw a horizontal line through it.

Step 3: From this same side of the head, draw a curve that goes down, turns straight under itself, then back up, ending under the head. Draw two lines from there for the underside of the shell.

Step 7: Add square patterns all over the top of the shell. You have drawn an African spurred tortoise! You can color it yellowish-brown with darker patterns.

Interesting Facts about African Spurred Tortoise

The African Spurred Tortoise is the largest tortoise of the African mainland. The only thing that surpasses its size is the giant island species from Aldabra and Galapagos. They have a broad oval shell that displays prominent separations of the shell with growth rings on each sections of the shell. These become marked with age.On the tortoise’s front surface and front legs, they have large overlapping scales while on the back of the thigh, there are two to three large conical spurs. This is what gives the African Spurred Tortoise its name.

Did you know?

• The tortoise is considered “vulnerable” in the endangered species list.
• African Tortoises live in deserts or dry savannahs where permanent water supply lacks.
• Most activity occurs during the rainy season July to October at dawn and dusk where it feeds on grass and plants.
• The tortoise is like many other species where it will be basking in morning sun to raise its body temperature from the cold night.
• They will live in their cool burrows in the dry season to avoid dehydration.

African Spurred Tortoises can be found in the southern edge of the Sahara in Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Chad, Sudan, Ethiopia, and Eritrea. The tortoise can also be found in Niger and Somalia as well.