A brown Home's hinge-back tortoise among fallen leaves. — Photo: Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Home's Hinge-back Tortoise

Kinixys homeana

A small West African forest tortoise with a sharply angled shell that eats mostly insects, unusual for a tortoise.

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About the Home's Hinge-back Tortoise

Home's hinge-back tortoises are 5.5 to 11.5 inches long and weigh 1.7 to 2.4 pounds. Their tan to dark brown shells slope sharply down at the back. They live in forests along the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa, from Liberia to Cameroon. Unusually for tortoises, they eat mostly insects, plus mushrooms, seeds, plants, worms, snails and frogs.^[1]

Quick facts

Scientific name: Kinixys homeana^[1]
Size: 5.5 to 11.5 inches long.^[1]
Weight: 1.7 to 2.4 pounds.^[1]
Lifespan: Possibly about 50 years.^[1]
Diet: Omnivore. Mostly insects, plus mushrooms, seeds, plants, worms, snails, frogs and carrion.^[1]
Habitat: Humid tropical forests.^[1]
Where it lives: Coastal West Africa along the Gulf of Guinea, from Liberia to Cameroon.^[1]
Group life: Males are territorial. Mostly active by day.^[1]
Babies: 1 to 4 eggs, once or twice a year.^[1]
Conservation status: Critically Endangered (IUCN Red List, assessed 2019).^[2]

Fun facts

It eats mostly insects, which is unusual for a tortoise.^[1]
It needs high humidity, unlike most tortoises.^[1]
Its shell angles sharply down at the back.^[1]

Vocabulary

carapace: The top part of a turtle's shell.
scute: A bony plate or scale on an animal's skin or shell.
humidity: The amount of moisture in the air.
omnivore: An animal that eats both plants and other animals.
critically endangered: A conservation label meaning a species faces an extremely high risk of dying out in the wild.

See it in person

Smithsonian's National ZooWashington, D.C. · Reptile Discovery CenterSee this animal on the zoo's website ↗

These zoos had this animal when we gathered our information, but animals sometimes move. Check the zoo's website or contact the zoo before you visit.

Sources

[1] Smithsonian's National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute. “Home's hinge-back tortoise.” https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/homes-hinge-back-tortoise (accessed 2026-10-08)
[2] IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. “Kinixys homeana (Home's Hinge-back Tortoise).” https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/11003/18341580 (accessed 2026-10-08)

Facts last checked 2026-10-08.

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