Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I noticed adds for different Leopard Tortoises- "Babcocki" and "Paradalis". I am a new tortoise hobbiest- can someone enlighten me? Thanks

p. pardalis is the large, p. bobcocki is the smaller.

Leopard tortoises from far northern Africa and from southern Africa tend to be very big - the southern morphs are sometimes called p. pardalis although this may not be a 'real' subspecies. In the middle, there are babcocki, which are smaller. The ones in the north are just as big as 'p. pardalis,' but don't have the signature double spots in each scute of hatchlings.

Identifying which adults are from which region is almost impossible, and since many are interbred in captivity, most (but not all) of the 'p. pardalis' sold on the internet are in fact hybrids. You won't know until, 20 years later, you end up with a 70 pound tortoise or a 20 pound tortoise...