hectares remaining. Namely food, cover, nesting and the ability to move around in the habitat are four main biological factors, which are important for the survival of geometric tortoises in their habitat. Geometric tortoises prefer low-lying and well-drained areas, which have a higher percentage of shrub cover and canopy cover at 50 cm above ground level. The last population in Cape Town died out in the tiny Harmony Flats Reserve. The species was believed to be extinct in the 1960s, but a surviving population was discovered in 1972 and it now occurs in three isolated pockets where it is conserved. A population in the Ceres valley, one in the Tulbagh-Worcester valley, and a group surviving on the coastal lowlands to the southwest. These colourful tortoises live only in lowland fynbos and renosterveld vegetation, meaning that their populations are easily isolated by mountains which they cannot cross. Diet The geometric tortoise's diet consists mainly of the leaves, geophytes, flowers, and shoots of a wide range of indigenous fynbos and renosterveld plant and grass species. Some of its more common food plants include Crassula ciliata, Oxalis species, local geophyte species, such as Cyanella hyacinthoides, Babiana angustifolia and Lachenalia contaminata; as well as a variety of grass species such as Themeda triandra, Briza maxima, Cynodon dactylon, Ehrharta calycina, Pentaschistis curvifolia and Eragrostis curvula. A failure to have the full range of these, and other specific local plant species, means that the geometric tortoise soon dies when taken out of its natural habitat or kept in captivity. The specific diet, together with climate, humidity and soil differences, are the principal reasons why the species does not survive for long outside of its habitat. It also means that the geometric tortoise is restricted to south-western Cape alluvial fynbos and shale renosterveld vegetation types. The geometric tortoise consumes at least 14 plant species as food, which includes 64% of Aspalathus species, 60% of Oxalis species and 66% of Berkheya species occur in West Coast renosterveld. Since the distribution range of geometric tortoise lies within a winter rainfall area, the annual grasses, geophytes and other herbaceous taxa are important food items during winter. During the summer, the annual green component is reduced and therefore the perennial grass, shrub and succulent components would serve geometric tortoise as the major food resource. Food sources tend to have a higher concentration of iron and had lower failure load and tensile