Toraton

The Toraton is a huge relative of modern-day tortoises, native to the Bengal Swamp, c.100,000,000 years into the future.

Anatomy
The Toraton's immense size is the product of a diet of huge amounts of vegetation. It can reach into the treetops, and also allows for a huge digestive system.

The shell only covers part of the animal's body, to reduce weight, but it cannot retract into it. The shell serves to support the immense weight and relatively weak muscles of the Toraton.

Toratons can grow up to seven meters (21 feet) in height, almost twice the size of an adult African Elephant, and weigh 122 tonnes (120 imperial tons), about 24 times an African Elephant.

Toraton sight and hearing are relatively poor, but their sense of smell is strong.

Behavior
Toratons are the largest animals ever to walk the planet in terms of bulk and weight, but are rivaled in size by some huge sauropod dinosaurs.

Toratons live in large herds, roaming the swamp in search of food. Mothers care for their young for five years, and they stay with the herd for up to thirty.

A healthy Toraton can live for up to 120 years.

Diet
Toratons are, as a general rule, not fussy about what they eat, and will consume most plant matter available in the swamp, eating up to six tons every day. Baby Toratons are coprophagic, meaning that they eat the mother's dung for their first few meals. This provides them with essential vitamins and minerals.

Babies
Mothers lay eggs and protect their eggs from predators. When hatchlings have hatched they eat some of their mother's dung to grow up to become adults.

Notable Toratons
Tika and Tonk are two Toraton hatchlings who imprinted on Luis when they hatched and he struggled to try to feed them for a while.