A small, shy tortoise with a relatively variable shell, they can often be distinguished by their prominent "bowsprits", which are protrusions of the "gular" shields, from their plastrons under their chins.

Angulates from the west coast of southern Africa tend to have a reddish colour, especially on the underside of their shell (from where their Afrikaans name of rooipens or "red-belly" comes).

Such tendencies can be diluted by admixture however, and in all populations individuals tend to assume a uniform brown colour in old age.

Males tend to have a cream-coloured mark on top of their head[citation needed] Their natural habitat is the fynbos, karoo, albany thickets and coastal scrub (strandveld) vegetation of the south-western part of South Africa.

Geographically, this natural range extends across the Cape Floristic Region, as far north as the southern part of Namibia.

In addition, small colonies have been introduced by tourists to domestic gardens in Swakopmund and Walvis Bay, even further north, in central Namibia.

Perhaps the largest killers of this species in its natural habitat are the periodic wildfires, which can kill hundreds of thousands at a time.

[8][9] Due to human activity, it is also increasingly threatened by habitat destruction from agriculture and other development, as well as illegal collecting for the pet trade and deaths from tortoises crossing busy roads.

A commonly reported problem is that, when a tortoise is spotted crossing rural roads, drivers tend to stop, pick it up and take it home - away from its habitat in the wild.

[6] If kept in a garden, these tortoises need a sizable warm, sunny, dry, well-drained area, with a diverse range of possible plant foods.

Cerastium capensi (Cape chickweed)* Silybum marianum (Blessed milk thistle) Commelina benghalensis (indigenous wandering Jew)* Clover* Unsuitable plants high in oxalates: Sedum morganianum Sedum frutescens Aracea (arum lily) Amaranthus (pigweed) Begonia spp Oxalis spp Rheum rhabarbarum (rhubarb) Crassulae spp The Chenopodiacea family which includes beet greens, spinach and chard should be avoided as they contain oxalates.

This is partly because they are adapted to the warm, dry, Mediterranean-type climate of the Cape, but also because they require a wide range of plant foods, which they typically do not receive when they are kept as pets by inexperienced keepers.