If your interest in reptiles comes from the pet hobby, you probably know these guys as sulcata tortoises- but if your interest comes from the zoo world, you're more likely to know them as African spurred tortoises, or African spur thighed tortoises. Bud here is showing off why! See those spurs on his legs? It's theorized that those are to help defend against predators. When a tortoise like this tucks into its shell, the spurs stick out and present an uncomfortable area to bite.
What's interesting to me is that the spurs that they're named after are actually the ones on their hind legs, even though they're much smaller than the big spikes on their front legs, which you can see quite clearly on Bub below:
(Yes, their names are Bub and Bud. They're rescued taken in by a man named Bob, and they came with those names, believe it or not!)
