With its powerful legs, the furrowed tortoise digs long burrows, several metres long, in which it takes refuge in case of extreme heat or cold nights.

The female lays her eggs in the sand at a depth of about 30 centimetres. The sex of the young depends on the temperature to which the eggs are exposed at the start of incubation: below 28°C, mainly males will hatch, while above 30°C, mainly females will hatch. At hatching, the young measure no more than 4.5 cm and weigh 30 grams.

It is the third largest land tortoise, after the giant tortoises of the Seychelles and the Galapagos! It is also called the spurred tortoise because the male, which is much larger than the female, has a fork at the front of its plastron (the underside of the shell). During the breeding season, they use it to fight their rivals and try to flip them onto their backs.

The light colour of its shell makes it difficult to spot in the sandy and semi-desert areas it favours.

Common until the mid-20th century in sub-Saharan Africa, from Mauritania to Ethiopia, the species is now threatened by a combination of factors. Local and international trade, pollution, overgrazing by domestic herbivores, urbanisation on the outskirts of cities such as Dakar and Khartoum, and desertification of its natural habitat are inexorably leading to a decline in its range.

Awareness campaigns, conservation programmes and releases into the wild, particularly in Senegal, are being implemented.

While some nomadic tribes hunt it for its meat, others see it as a symbol of longevity and fertility that allows them to communicate with their ancestors.