Abstract

• Basking behavior of Burmese Star Tortoises Geochelone platynota from Natogyi Township, Myingyan District, Mandalay Regiion in Minzontaung Wildlife Sanctuary were conducted March 2019 to February 2020. The observed number was total of 122 star tortoises including 54 males and 68 females. The basking duration of each turtle was an average of 25.69 minutes per day. The female was more basking time than the males, 26.27 min per day and 25.00 min per day respectively. The seasonal variation of the basking time was observed, the lowest time was in rainy season and highest in winter season in both sexes. The female basking time was the lowest in rainy season (24.00 min), the highest was in winter season (40.80 min) and moderate in the summer season (24.49 min). For the male, the lowest in rainy season, (22.71 min) the highest was in winter season, (33.29 min) and moderate in the summer season (23.17 min). In this research 33.91% of total observed female number were coming out and 38.49 % of total observed male number were coming out for basking each day. The percent of basking tortoises was also correlated with cloudy conditions, highest percentage was ranked depending basking activity as under 1) partly sunny, 2) sunny, 3), mostly sunny partly cloudy, 4) cloudy, 5), mostly cloudy 6)Thunderstorm , 7) rain and 8) shower . During the study period the highest temperature is 41 °C and the lowest temperature is 18°C. The basking activity is predominantly utilized to meet physiological needs (i.e., reproductive effort, metabolism, digestion, growth) via thermoregulation.