The specific epithet vandenburghi honours American herpetologist John Van Denburgh.

[3] The tortoises feed on grass, leaves, forbs, sedges, fruit and lichens, obtaining water from their diet and pools of rainwater.

Females start nesting in May and June at the end of the wet season, laying clutches of 6–26 eggs in soft soil.

[3] The tortoise population is estimated to comprise some 6,300 individuals, a decline of 84% since 1840, and the subspecies is considered to be Vulnerable.

The tortoise population formerly suffered through predation and trampling of eggs and hatchlings, as well as habitat degradation, by introduced animals including pigs, donkeys and goats.