---
title: "Brazilian Giant Tortoise"
description: "Chelonoidis denticulatus — Reptiles. The yellow-footed tortoise (Chelonoidis denticulatus), also known as the Brazilian giant tortoise, is a species of tortoise in the family Testudinidae and is closely related to the red-footed tortoise (C."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/brazilian-giant-tortoise
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Brazilian Giant Tortoise

> Chelonoidis denticulatus — Reptiles. The yellow-footed tortoise (Chelonoidis denticulatus), also known as the Brazilian giant tortoise, is a species of tortoise in the family Testudinidae and is closely related to the red-footed tortoise (C.

- Scientific name: *Chelonoidis denticulatus*
- Category: `reptiles` (Reptiles)
- Habitats: `forest` (Forest), `jungle` (Jungle)
- iNaturalist observations: 2383
- Wikidata: [Q18867](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q18867)
- iNaturalist taxon: [539451](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/539451)

## Names

- en: Brazilian Giant Tortoise
- de: Waldschildkröte
- es: Morrocoy
- fr: Tortue Denticulée
- it: Chelonoidis denticulata
- nl: Braziliaanse reuzenschildpad
- pt: Jabuti-tinga
- pl: Żabuti leśny

## Countries with the most observations

BR (457), EC (434), PE (286), GF (158), BO (142), CO (113), GY (36), SR (32)

## Summary

The yellow-footed tortoise (Chelonoidis denticulatus), also known as the Brazilian giant tortoise, is a species of tortoise in the family Testudinidae and is closely related to the red-footed tortoise (C. carbonarius). It is found in the Amazon Basin of South America. The species name has often been misspelled as denticulata, an error introduced in the 1980s when Chelonoidis was elevated to genus and mistakenly treated as feminine, an error recognized and fixed in 2017.
With an average length of 40 cm (15.75 in) and the largest known specimen at 94 cm (37 in), this is the sixth-largest tortoise species on Earth, after…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow-footed_tortoise

## Photo

![Brazilian Giant Tortoise](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/brazilian-giant-tortoise/medium.jpg)

Photo: Whaldener Endo · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/120942997

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/brazilian-giant-tortoise?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).