I'm no tortoise expert, but I would say a Testudo species, with Hermann's tortoise, T. hermanni, being my best guess based on the markings on the carapace and the width of the spinal plates of the carapace. Greek tortoises often have notable markings that differ between subspecies, but their spinal plates are wider.
@Anniella Thank you very much for your information and that indeed sounds likely. I did know that Pairi Daiza had Hermann's (boettgeri subspecies) as I posted pictures of them and their terrarium in the gallery.
@KevinB The western boettgeri subspecies really is beautiful, I would love a group of them but they go for more than twice the eastern subspecies stateside.
@KevinB To each their own, I have a hard time picking a favorite class of vertebrate to focus my upcoming study in. Some days its mammals, some days I read for an hour about endangered birds, and some days I cant wait for the next reptile expo. Only thing I dont care much for is bugs, as much as I may recognize their ecological importance.
@DelacoursLangur My liking of and interest in animals is also quite broad and generalized also and I'm sorry if I made that seem to not be the case. I read and do research about various animal groups. However I have a specific thing for birds (parrots and marshland-type birds in particular) and ungulates. There's few animals I dislike quite a lot (mosquitoes, bed bugs, brown rats, house mice and wasps come to mind immediately) but not too many.
I only meant to say that if I were to ever keep exotics other than fish myself, I would probably choose birds (not that I plan to do so).
