Luzon Peryamai

Megalochelys is from Greek word for "great turtle". Peryami is from Tamil word for "big turtle".

Megalochelys, one of its species, Megalochelys atlas, the largest known tortoise, has a shell length of up to 2.7 meters (6.6 feet) and a height of roughly 1.8 meters (5.9 feet), making it the largest known tortoise. The most widely used weight estimations for this taxon have been quite variable, with the highest estimates in some cases reaching up to 4,000 kg (8,800 lb).

However, estimates based on the skeleton's volumetric displacement or deductions made from two-dimensional skeletal drawings suggest that Megalochelys atlas likely weighed between 1,000 and 2,000 kg (2,200 and 4,400 lb) instead. Thus, Megalochelys atlas is the largest tortoise known to man.

For instance, a hard material resembling hooves and fingernails is used to create the scutes or scales that cover tortoise shells. The tortoise's scutes help protect it from disease or injury from a predator.

Due to their size and protection from predators behind, Megalochelys atlas is the largest Megalochelys species worldwide. spanning from Malaysia to possibly Greece and India. Before going extinct, it faced competition in India from a variety of megafauna, such as elephants or wolves, which sprang out of nowhere.

The Megalochelys sondaari was supported by four enormous feet, just like the modern Galápagos tortoise. Paleontologists think Megalochelys sondaari because the majority of the species in the allied genus Testudo are herbivores. This creature consumed the same food. Megalochelys sondaari was able to effectively expand throughout much of Southeast Asia because it was simply too huge and challenging for the majority of predators of the time to handle.

It is thought that Homo erectus' migrational arrival and subsequent overexploitation of the animal led to the local extinction of enormous Megalochelys tortoises from a number of islands in the Indo-Autralian archipelago. Due to habitat destruction, the illicit pet trade, and widespread consumption for food and traditional medicine, several species of turtles and tortoises today risk extinction.

Because Megalochelys is a neutral creature, it won't attack unless provoked or if one of its eggs is taken. They'll also stand up for those like them. Megalochelys can perform a devastating attack when attacked, but nothing particularly lethal.

Giant tortoises have also been found in the islands of the Philippines. One of the biggest land-dwelling turtles ever was the Luzon gigantic tortoise (Megalochelys sondaari).

• Movement Pattern: Not Migrant

• Individual Type: Solo

• Population Trend: Stable

• Population: 0

• Locomotion: Amphibious

• Habitat: Montane grasslands and shrublands; temperate coniferous forests; temperate broadleaf and mixed forests; temperate deciduous forests, temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands; subtropical coniferous forests; subtropical moist broadleaf forests; subtropical dry broadleaf forests; subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands; salt plains; limestone forest; tropical coniferous forests; tropical moist broadleaf forests; tropical dry broadleaf forests; tropical grasslands; tropical savannas and shrublands; Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub; mushroom forests; deserts and xeric shrublands; badlands; flooded grasslands and savannas; swamp; riparian; wetland; mangrove forest; bamboo forest; air-breathing coral reefs; lukewarm river; subterranean river; pond

• Earth: 

  • Extinct: Philippines (Kalinga; Laguna; Manila; Pasay; Rizal)

All tortoises are automatically tamed when hatched from an egg, as the survivor is always within 6 radius of the sac hatching. If the tortoise is somehow not tamed at birth, it can be tamed with a whip, any plant materials, buds, seaweed, or eggshells.

It was excavated in Tres Hermanas, Rizal in deposits associated with the Laguna Formation by a team from UP NIGS and was described in 2007.

Coming soon

• Coming soon

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalochelys

• http://www.fossilworks.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?a=taxonInfo&taxon_no=375519

• https://www.facebook.com/nationalmuseumofthephilippines/posts/today-is-reptileawarenessday-and-the-nationalmuseumph-joins-the-nation-in-promot/3704666492890975/

• https://twitter.com/yuanalbano28/status/1346875935471988736

• https://www.azquotes.com/quote/1153014?ref=tortoises

• https://www.deviantart.com/ognimdo2002/art/Megalochelys-sondaari-897973052