Greetings @adalger today I present my pet, a beautiful land turtle that an aunt gave us in December and since then we take care of it at home. To take care of her, we learned how to feed and bathe her, we understood that she also needs to be in a warm and dark place.
I was investigating what type of turtle it is and because of the characteristic I managed to identify what it is: Chelonoidis carbonaria, in my country Venezuela it is known as Morrocoy.
The Chelonoidis carbonaria is a species of red-footed tortoise, native to the savannas and forests, from Panama to the Guianas, Brazil, Paraguay. In Venezuela and Colombia it is known as morrocoy sabanera.
It seems incredible to me what I read about my turtle is an endangered species, it is highly hunted by gastronomy lovers, many turtle dishes are prepared. I can't really imagine eating my turtle. Collect important data on this that I want to share with you as I show you the photos of my turtle named Gema.
This species of turtle is in danger of extinction. Red-footed tortoises are protected under Appendix II of the Convention on International Traffic in Endangered Species (CITES, for its acronym in English)
source
In all the countries in their range, the greatest threat to the survival of red-footed tortoises is overhunting by man. Turtles are considered "fish" by the Catholic Church and are consumed in large quantities during Holy Week. Many specimens are collected and sent to different cities in South America to be sold as a delicacy.
source
All photos are my own and taken with Samsung Galaxy Zoom.
I'm with you! @naty16
There's absolutely no way I could eat a turtle. I'm not even sure how turtles fell into the category of being acceptable food to eat during Lent as they definitely don't look like seafood to me!
Gema is an adorable turtle and lucky to have you as her owner!🐢
oh! you didnt know that? there is a special middle-ages story behind it, very funny and curious! (but I considered it was about beavers, not about turtles? hmmm...)
Thank you very much @ninahaskin how good that you accept I ate it as a turtle, neither do I and it is very sweet that you like Gema my pet.