[5] Researchers such as Roger Bour and Charles Crumly separated Geochelone into different genera based largely on their skulls.

They created or re-established several genera: Aldabrachelys, Astrochelys, Cylindraspis, Indotestudo, Manouria, and Chelonoidis.

[8] They closely resemble the red-footed tortoise, and can sometimes be difficult to tell apart, especially as a preserved specimen, which led to quite a bit of confusion over the names and ranges.

The carapace (shell top) is a long oval with parallel sides and a high-domed back that is generally flat along the vertebrals (scutes or shell scales along the top of the carapace) with a slight peak near the hind end.

The areola in each scute are pale yellow, orange or light brown and blend into the darker carapace.

The skin of the head and limbs is black with yellow to orange scales on top and around the eye and ear.

The hind limbs are elephant-like with four claws, and are covered in small scales colored like the forelimbs.

Males develop a distinctive incurving of sides, giving them a well-defined "waist", and a deeply in-curved plastron.

Some feel they prefer grasslands and dry forest areas, and that rain-forest habitat is most likely marginal.

Regardless, they are found in drier forest areas, grasslands, and the savanna, or rainforest belts adjoining more open habitats.

Male tortoises also swing their heads back and forth in a continuous rhythm as a mating ritual.

There is no parental care of the young and the baby tortoises will fend for themselves, starting by eating calcium-rich plant matter.

In the wild, their diets consist of grasses, flowers, fallen fruit, carrion, plants, bones, mushrooms, excrement, and slow-moving invertebrates such as snails, worms, and others they are able to capture.

[11] In captivity, they are fed oranges, apples, melons, endive, collard greens, dandelions, plantain, ribwort, clover, shredded carrots, insects, worms, cuttlebone, tortoise vitamins, edible flowers, and alfalfa pellets.

Breeding is synchronized with the onset of the rainy season (from July to September), where a general increase in activity is noted.

Males identify each other by eliciting a characteristic head movement, a series of jerks away from and back to mid-position.

This is in comparison to aquatic species, where the males are usually smaller than the females and do not engage in male-to-male combat.

The major populations located in South America are protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, Appendix II.