Kenya goes flat out to protect the pancake tortoise

DW (English)

The flat-shelled small tortoise, classified as critically endangered, is highly sought after by illegal pet collectors. Now, Kenya has launched a major campaign to protect it from extinction.

Transcript

00:00Meet the cutest, flattest tortoise you've ever seen, the pancake tortoise.

00:07The reptile lives in the rocky outcrops of Tanzania and Kenya

00:11and outwits predators by hiding in crevices too tight for bigger enemies.

00:17People are aware of the bigger tortoises like the leopold tortoise, the helmet-end tortoise.

00:23You know, people are aware of those because they are big, they are seen.

00:28But there is this one small animal that thrives in rock crevices, hidden inside the cobsies of very, very difficult rocks in the cracks

00:41and only comes out in specific times and when it is very, very sure their enemies are not around.

00:48That's when it just crawls out of the crevices and goes to look for food or water.

00:53That's the pancake tortoise. It's a small animal you can hold on your farm like this.

01:00Its shell may be paper thin but its survival skills are ancient and for millennia they were effective.

01:07Yet today modern dangers like the illegal pet trade, cultural stigma and habitat loss threaten the pancake tortoise.

01:15Conservationists class the pancake tortoise as critically endangered.

01:20Before they used to think it is a stunted or a small and baby tortoise that is coming up, it's growing.

01:26What I have found because I leaned in that research is that there is very low awareness in the region about pancake tortoise.

01:34The uniqueness of the pancake tortoise has driven its popularity in the animal trade.

01:40It's a very innocent animal, naive, you can put in your bag and it is sold.

01:46People keep them as domestic pets and that activity, that kind of business really drives beyond our boundaries.

01:53So you realize that some people come here in Kenya maybe looking for them and they buy illegally.

01:59They train. It's actually threatened by illegal trains.

02:03People think that this one is associated with witchcraft and they cannot, whoever comes across it has got abandoned.

02:12And therefore, the answer is to eradicate immediately.

02:17In response, Kenya has launched a 10-year national recovery and conservation action plan.

02:23Since 2019, over 280 pancake tortoises have been found and tagged in northern Kenya.

02:30Researchers record their sex and shell length and insert tags for tracking.

02:35They even collect DNA to study movement and family links.

02:39The action plan finally gives national recognition to one of Kenya's most endangered and unusual animals.

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