Elongated Tortoise

Indotestudo elongata

Status: Critically Endangered Region: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand and Vietnam Population remaining: Decreasing

Inhabiting forests in South and Southeast Asia, these reptiles with their highly distinctive elongated shells have been intensively hunted for food and reared as pets. It was the most common chelonian species traded in Vietnam in the 1990s and the most commonly confiscated chelonian species in the Eastern Plains of Cambodia’s Mondulkiri province, where WWF-led enforcement teams work to reduce its capture. According to CITES, at least 918 of them were seized from illegal operations between 2000 and 2015.