Egyptian Tortoise 🐢 (endangered)

This activity is about finding new purposes for artificial things that have become ‘waste’, and using them to create new things that get people to think about the relation between the things we make or design, and their impact on our planet, its natural ecosystems, and the nonhuman world, i.e. the world of animals, plants, and other beings.

I chose to create a model for an Egyptian tortoise. One sad detail as I googled the term for research, Google’s autocomplete added “ for sale” as the first recommendation 😔. The Egyptian tortoise also known as Kleinmann’s or Leith’s tortoise and has been a targeted species spanning many years. Its tiny adult size of only 3 to 4 inches (occasionally nearing 5” for females) and inquisitive personality have made them an optimal indoor chelonian for the herpetoculturist. The International Union on Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the Egyptian tortoise as critically endangered. Human development, overgrazing, and collection of specimens for the pet trade have decimated this species’ range. The native habitat of the Egyptian tortoise consists of desert and semi-desert scrub, found in coastal Libya and Egypt as well as Israel, however its range was once much larger, extending across Egypt and down into southern Palestine.

The Egyptian tortoise

Making:

So, I try sketching out how I might create the tortoise using junk lying around in my house , but I soon find that I’m not very good at sketching 🙈 and that I’d rather simply start playing around with materials.

The obvious choice for the shell was to use empty egg cartons. So i cut out both the plastic and the cardboard shells an decide to go with cardboard as they’re easier to stick adn come close to the shell’s actual dusty color.

2 choices for shell

Then I begin outlining the shell, using the cutout cardboard onto a flat cardboard from a waste amazon package.

I considered other , curved surfaces for the base of the shell, but found them hard to cut like this Tide detergent’s empty container.

Finally, I stick the individual pieces onto the curved cardboard to build the shell.

I then use a thermocol packaging box to form as the base beneath the shell.

Finally I use , waste wires as its’ tiny legs and a lemon peel as the head of the tortoise.

The Result:

My Egyptian tortoise is ready and lives below the heating unit in my room as it prefers warmth during day. I hope I can preserve it for long and in turn inspire fellow humans to preserve the species as well :)