With proper care, Russian tortoises can live to be over 50 years old.
Russian tortoises have a very social personality—they are considered to have a personality much like a dog.
Although they are called Russian tortoises, they are found in more countries than just Russia. They range throughout a large part of Asia and the Middle East.
Even though they have big, bulky shells, Russian tortoises love to climb and explore through all different terrain.
Russian tortoises do not grow large like many other tortoise species and grow to be only six to eight inches in length.
Russian tortoises are diurnal, meaning they are mostly active during the day.
Wild Russian tortoises are known to burrow through the cold winter months.
Russian tortoises also have one of the highest tolerances for temperature extremes.
Females are normally a little larger than males at full size.
In higher or lower temperatures, they attempt to burrow underground to insulate themselves from the extremes.