Get to know Herbie, our red-footed tortoise

Meet the Animals

Discovery Place Kids Huntersville

Have you ever caught yourself following the social cues of someone else, like a human shadow? Red-footed tortoises do this, too. The behavior is known as gaze follow, the ability to follow the gaze or attention focus of another group member.    

Herbie is a red-footed tortoise whose home range spans from Panama to Argentina. The coloration of the legs and tail lead to this animal’s common name. The scales that cover these regions are yellow to dark, reddish brown. 

Tortoises like Herbie have incredibly long lifespans. It is not uncommon for this animal to reach ages of 50 years or more. At Discovery Place Science, Herbie calls the Rainforest home, which is the perfect habitat for this species that thrives in humid, tropical environments.

Red-footed tortoises are ravenous herbivores, meaning they eat a diet primarily of plant matter like fruits and vegetables. Their diet also consists of some animal matter such as small invertebrates, including insects and snails.

Herbie gets plenty to eat at Discovery Place Science. He enjoys a big salad and variety of fruit every day. He likes his fruit very ripe, because he can't climb trees so the fruits he would eat in the wild would be the ripest fruit that had fallen to the ground.    

To learn more about red-footed tortoises like Herbie check out: https://www.animaldiversity.or...

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