The Kleinmanni Project
(Testudo Kleinmanni - Egyptian Tortoise)

Its never a good idea to Interpret / Quantify nature so we're not going to try, this document is set to report just some of our findings.

Unfortunately a number of wild caught animals are encountered for sale along the native land and reported sightings at various stalls and shops are still not as rare as one would hope, This is without doubt a negative burden on an already minimal wild populations, Although this is not the place to start a debate on poverty, and world ethics that's for the politicians, right?
Safe to say do not attempt to buy one.

Note: It is an offence to carry out a transaction for the fore mentioned illegal wildlife dead, alive or product of, this can carry very serious consequences, the authorities do not tolerate ignorance.
Eliminate the market - eliminate the trade.

This shows that T.kleinmanni are accustomed to bright sunlit dry warm days with a drop in temperature at night and also over winter by ~ 10°C, We can see they do not experience cold enough conditions for traditional hibernation but are active in varying amounts throughout the year which we will look at more closely later in this Article.

Climatic Summary, Egypt in Comparison to the UK..

Below are 4 graphs of monthly climatic data (Egypt)

• Temperatures

• Precipitation

• Humidity

• Sunlight

Each can be viewed by simply pressing one of the 4 icons beneath the graph.

	Name: k1 D.O.B:  06 / 2003 Generation: F1 Lineage: A-A  Key
		Name: k2 D.O.B: 06 / 2003 Generation: F1 Lineage: A-A  Key
	Name: k3 D.O.B: 01 / 2003 Generation: F1 Lineage: A-A  Key
		Name: k4 D.O.B: 06 / 2003 Generation: F1 Lineage: B-B  Key
	Name: k5 D.O.B: 05 / 2003 Generation: F1 Lineage: B-B  Key

Below are graphs that show ...

• Growth Rate Measured
• Mean and Standard Deviations

Captive Husbandry

In regards to their captive maintenance we try to mimic the natural conditions as close as reasonably practicable, Temperatures and day light cycles are some of the easiest to replicate which can be viewed in more detail from the graphs in the next section. [below]

Temperature - We maintain ~40°C basking spot all year round and control the cooler months by dropping the ambient temperature.      See the table below.

Sunlight Cycle - The sunlight is provided artificially via UVB tubes which are set for winter and summer cycles.    See the table below.

Food - Not the most straight forward as many of the native plants can simply not be collected and offered all year round in captivity. As with most Mediterranean tortoises lots of weeds, herbs, greens.
To reduce the effects of over eating and becoming spoilt on our lush food we feed every third day to encourage foraging of the left over dried weeds.

Supplements - The food items are dusted once a month with a good quality multivitamin and additional calcium every other feed.

Water - Although the combination of the food offered tends to be of a higher water content we still offer drinking water.

Air - The air is continually circulated and filtered to prevent stale spots, Additionally a flow of fresh air is supplied via a combination of forced new induction and old extraction.
This also helps prevent over heating as the hot air rises up out the extraction a flow of new air is drawn in at ground level. Air currents are directed away to prevent drafts / chills.

Housing - The group was established at hatching and have lived communally ever since, although they are more nomadic in the wild this study was based on their captive care and in this way it enables us to closely monitor the interaction with one another 24/7.
The set-up consists of a heated basking area ~40°C and a cooler ambient temperature at the other end where feeding takes place, Sleeping quarters are provided via hides of half cut plant pots - readily accepted when snug fitting. A dry non-dusty substrate is used to allow the T.kleinmanni to dig in.

Captives - One of the most important points we find when working with T.kleinmanni is their timid / shy nature, They do seem to benefit from just being left alone! - [More] on this subject later.

Flow Chart Diagram (Temperature Data Logging)
Place the mouse cursor over the items in the Flow Chart to view info.

Enclosure Temperature Data
Week 1 - End of our winter, gradually fluctuating with background heat and air currents.
Week 2 - Start of our summer, Heat sources on at 11am and off at 11pm.

Temperature data is Ambient does not include basking spot ~40°C.

Human Interaction & Shyness

To quantify this "Shy / Timid " nature We conducted a few simple tests with various groups of Testudo, none of the animals were accustomed to human intervention with minimal keeper contact.

The simple tests consisted of ones such as ...

To make a comparison on this type of study a points system was devised to judge each category in turn, the more timid the species appeared the more points were awarded, on a scale of 1 to 3.               

Note: Although these are simple tests, They do however show how timid T.kleinmanni can be in regards to other Testudo species, We find that in captivity T.kleinmanni  fair better when left alone making them far from being a suitable pet.

Activity Observations

With T.kleinmanni being relatively shy every time they would hear the keeper approach they would run and hide!, We needed a plan a way of observing them which would allow them to continue in their daily activities. 
So we started on a project to build in a video monitoring system as we could see via the CCTV cameras the tortoises were active until the keeper entered.

We built a prototype and wrote what would later become ... software phase 1, a flow chart of the system can be seen below, this now allowed us to monitor the T.kleinmanni activity without any intervention.

Flow Chart Diagram (Activity Data Logging)
Place the mouse cursor over the items in the Flow Chart to view info.

We initially set our software to capture an image periodically, then we could scan through these images in more detail at a latter time and record our findings, Where were the tortoises at what time were they sleeping, eating, basking, and for how long etc.
This could then be conducted on a regular / daily basis, inputting the data into the 'Tortoise Diary' we were able to spot patterns and trends.

Examples of Activity Report, Temperature Log, Activity Log and Images...

Scroll through the notes by dragging the text up or down, select a document using the icons below.

Although we still continue to gather information in this way, We required a more accurate way of obtaining activity rates and so we started work on phase 2, The software need automation something that would not require sitting with a stop watch timing the activity by - Hours, Days, Weeks, Months, even Years ...

Phase 2 could now not only record photographic evidence of what was happening and when, it could also determine how active the tortoises were and when - down to the individual second.

Temperature Activity Correlation
One of the first things we witnessed was the temperature / activity correlation.
Knowing environmental temperature plays an important role to the activity rate in reptiles,
It was still very exciting to see the real data unfolding for the first time based on captive T.kleinmanni.

Below are the first 3 graphs to show, Winter, Summer, and Comparison activity...

Daily Routines
Also from this data are the clearly defined daily routines, Within the first hour the tortoises need to warm up with a morning basking, Over the next 2 hours the activity rate increases to peak around the 4th hour when its time to forage for food, this lasts for 2 - 3 hours until the activity rate declines steadily over the next 3 hours to night time and retiring to the hides by the 10th hour.
 

Help! - If you have any Information, Images, Ideas - Regarding T.kleinmanni you would like to share with us please contact us, info@pettortoise.co.uk

T.kleinmanni are wonderful animals and a pleasure to work with, and we hope that they will be around for further generations to enjoy.