This captive bred Indian Star tortoise is a master of escape. I leave the glass doors open in summer thinking that he could not possibly get out, until I found him on the ledge several times. The only way I could get to the truth of how he was escaping was to put a video camera in the room when I was not around. He can also open the glass doors wider on a good day.

{The Indian Star Tortoise (Geochelone elegans) is a species of tortoise found in dry areas and scrub forest in India and Sri Lanka. | This species is quite popular in the exotic pet trade. | Carapace very convex, dorsal shields often forming humps; lateral margins nearly vertical; posterior margin somewhat expanded and strongly serrated; no nuchal; supracaudal undivided, incurved in the male; shields strongly striated concentrically; first vertebral longer than broad, the others broader than long, third at least as broad as the corresponding costal. | Plastron large, truncated or openly notched in front, deeply notched, bifid behind; suture between the humerals much longer than that between the femorals; suture between the pectorals very short; axillary and inguinal rather small. | Head moderate; forehead swollen, convex, and covered with rather small and irregular shields; beak feebly hooked, bi- or tricuspid; edge of jaws denticulated; alveolar ridge of upper jaw strong. | Outer-anterior face of fore limb with numerous unequal-sized, large, imbricate, bony, pointed tubercles; heel with large, more or less spur-like tubercles; a group of large conical or subconical tubercles on the hinder side of the thigh. | Carapace black, with yellow areolae from which yellow streaks radiate; these streaks usually narrow and very numerous: plastron likewise with black and yellow radiating streaks. | Length of shell 10 inches. | The patterning although highly contrasting is disruptive and breaks the outline of the tortoise as it sits in the shade of grass or vegetation. | They are mostly herbivorous and feed on grasses, fallen fruit, flowers and leaves of succulent plants, and will occasionally eat carrion. | The sexual dimorphism of adult Indian Star Tortoises is quite apparent. | Females are considerably larger than their male counterparts. | In addition, the females plastron is much flatter than that of the males which has a concave shape. | Raising these animals in captivity is extremely difficult and should be left to those with advanced tortoise experience. | They are very finicky eaters and gain weight extremely slowly. | Hatchlings would rather sleep than eat and most succumb in the first months of life. | A typical hatchling in the United States costs about $500 from a reputable dealer and you should be prepared to lose this investment if you do not have significant experience with tortoises. | It is best to have a close relationship with a veterinarian who has experience with tortoise care. | A large number of specimens of this species are found in the illegal wildlife trade in India. | Few studies exist which have quantified wild populations and the effect of trade on them. | The shape of this creature is presumed to be specially adapted to naturally assist it to return to a stable stance after it has been turned over. | Mathematicians Gábor Domokos of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics and Péter Várkonyi of Princeton University designed a homogenous object called Gömböc that has exactly one unstable balance point and exactly one stable balance point. | Just as a bottom-weighted (non-homogenous weight distribution) sphere would always return to the same upright position, they found it was possible to construct a shape that behaves the same way. | After that, they noted the similarity to the Indian Star Turtle and subsequently tested 30 turtles by turning them upside down, they found that many of them were self-righting. ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||}