Negev tortoise Negev tortoise The Negev tortoise ("Testudo werneri") is a species of tortoise in the family Testudinidae. The species is endemic to the Negev Desert in southern Israel. "T. werneri" has been considered to be a subspecies or synonym of Kleinmann's tortoise ("T. kleinmanni" ). Males of "T. werneri" may reach a straight carapace length of . Females grow to be larger, attaining a straight carapace length of (Perälä 2001). "T. werneri" was once found in the Sinai Peninsula but has gone regionally extinct due to loss of habitat. In Israel it is protected by law and several conservation programs, and
Negev Bedouin to Baghdad during the subsequent Abbasid reign. Most of the Negev Bedouin tribes migrated to the Negev from the Arabian Desert, Transjordan, Egypt, and the Sinai from the 18th century onwards. Traditional Bedouin lifestyle began to change after the French invasion of Egypt in 1798. The rise of the puritanical Wahhabi sect forced them to reduce their raiding of caravans. Instead, the Bedouin acquired a monopoly on guiding pilgrim caravans to Mecca, as well as selling them provisions. The opening of the Suez canal reduced the dependence on desert caravans and attracted the Bedouin to newly formed settlements that sprung