Tortoises

[Timble2]

The Grauniad
Tortoise realdolls!

Plastic toy draws Timmy the tortoise out of his shell. After years of heartache, a Hermann's tortoise finds love with toy mate Tanya at a sanctuary in Cornwall

It is an unusual romance, to say the least. He is made of flesh, blood and shell while she is constructed entirely out of plastic.

But after years of heartache, Timmy the tortoise seems to have found some sort of comfort by teaming up with Tanya the plastic toy tortoise.

Timmy, a Hermann's tortoise (Testudo hermanni), appears to dote on Tanya night and day since the pair were brought together by keepers at the sanctuary where he lives after he was "bullied" by other real tortoises.

The sprightly 60-year-old fetches her food (and does not seem to mind that she does not eat it) and nuzzles his head against hers. He will not go to bed unless she is put into his hut before him.

Timmy arrived at the Tortoise Garden sanctuary in St Austell, Cornwall, three years ago when his owners emigrated to New Zealand. Staff tried to introduce him to other tortoises but he did not get on with them.

The sanctuary's owner, Joy Bloor, said: "I tried introducing him to other tortoises but they don't seem to like him and bully and fight with him. I put the plastic toy in his pen with him and now they are inseparable.

"He nuzzles and kisses her, moves her around and pushes lettuce towards her. He plays with her every day. If I want him to go into his hut at night time I have to put Tanya in there first, otherwise he won't go."

The lack of response does not seem to bother Timmy. "Tanya's only a third of the size of him but he doesn't seem to mind," Bloor said. "He's much happier when it's just the two of them."

Over the years the sanctuary has looked after thousands of unwanted, abandoned, injured and illegally imported tortoises. Set up by Bloor and husband, Geoff, 20 years ago, it currently cares for 450 tortoises from 15 species in 60 pens.

 

[oldrover]

Years ago back in the 70's like lots of other kids I had a tortoise. First winter came and it was picked up from the garden put in a box full of newspapers and stuck in a coal shed. Summer came and sure enough it had gone to join the angels.

Since then I've heard that tortoises, or at least the majority of the ones for sale back then, didn't hibernate and that many died slow lingering deaths, starving, trapped in the dark in boxes around Britain every year.

Does anyone know if this is true?

 

[Quake42]

Tortoises don't generally hibernate in their native (warm!) climates but if living outdoors in a cool temperate climate like ours they can and will hibernate. They need to be checked on carefully though, if they wake up early they can die.

My colleague has a tortoise who has access to the outside but lives predominantly indoors - she doesn't hibernate at all and seems to be going strong. Fascinating creatures!

 

[Cultjunky]

We had our tortoise - Speedy - for about 4 years. He/She hibernated every winter (back in the days before central heating) and always came out of it. He went for a walk in the garden one day, and never came home .

The coolest thing about Speedy was that He/She always went for a number two in the downstairs bathroom. It might have taken a couple of hours, but it would walk there, have a dump, and then walk back to his box! This would happen two or three times a day.

I think Speedy found the farm that my dog Trixie went to, and it was soooo nice, He/She din't come home. Well, that's what my Daddy told me, so it must be true.

 

[Recycled1]

Tortoises were v. common when I was a child in the '50', growing up in Andover.
My mother found one in the road -alive- with the RAF target colours painted on its shell. She couldn't found out where it had come from, so we kept it.
It became very tame,and would come out from the border in the garden to be hand fed. It loved anything yellow (buttercups etc) and would head down the garden to our rather yellow kitchen, go in, and do a mess on the floor (like Cultjunky's).

Well, my mother took in a large "rescue" dog, who started snapping at Ossie the tortoise, so she gave the tortoise to a nearby farm park for its own safety. A couple of years later my mother took her class of infants to the said farm park for their school outing, and there was a group of tortoises together. My mother called "Ossie, Ossie!" and out from the group, came our old tortoise! By then the dog had settled down in behaviour, so Ossie came home again and eventually died in his own garden.

We had him (her?) for 17 years in all. He used to be put to hibernate in an undisturbed cuboard on the landing (ours was a cold old Edwardian semi). We used to know when he was waking up in spring, as there would be noises from the cupboard.
My mother counted the "growth rings" on the underside of his shell, and reckoned he was in his 30's when he died.

 

[oldrover]

I think Speedy found the farm that my dog Trixie went to, and it was soooo nice, He/She din't come home. Well, that's what my Daddy told me, so it must be true.

Oh that's nice, not like mine which died.

Speedy you say, I had two one called Torty and another called Lightening, he buggered off as well. Probably just as well.

I agree Quake they are fascinating, but if pushed I couldn't say why.

RAF target colours painted on its shell

As far as I remember everyone used to paint things on their tortoise's shell. I'm sure mine had their names written on it, what the hell for I can't imagine.

 

[Cherrybomb]

IIRC, they had a tortie in Brideshead Revisited with jewels glued onto it's shell.
I know in the mid 1980's a lot of older ladies had them as pets, mainy of my Grandmothers friends had them. I wonder why they don't seem so popular now?

Did'nt the one on Blue Peter get put into a box with cotton wool to hibernate, every year?

 

[Quake42]

I wonder why they don't seem so popular now?

Mainly because it's illegal to import them. You can still buy tortoises but you have to pay a breeder and this may cost hundreds of pounds. Very different to the being able to pick one up cheaply in any pet shop, as you could in the 60s and 70s.

 

[GNC]

IIRC, they had a tortie in Brideshead Revisited with jewels glued onto it's shell.

In the cult 19th century novel Against Nature by J.K. Huysmans, the wealthy, decadent protagonist sets gemstones on a tortoise shell, which end up killing the tortoise. Maybe the BR bit was an homage?

 

[oldrover]

I wonder why they don't seem so popular now?

Mainly because it's illegal to import them. You can still buy tortoises but you have to pay a breeder and this may cost hundreds of pounds. Very different to the being able to pick one up cheaply in any pet shop, as you could in the 60s and 70s.

Yes they cost a bloody bomb these days. We found one walking home from school once back in the mid 80's, and were later told it would have been 100's back then.

 

[Spudrick68]

A tortoise walking home from school?...Sorry... :?

 

[ramonmercado]

Heres another dead tortoise, but he lived to 100. Sadly a sub-species dies with him.

Last Pinta giant tortoise Lonesome George dies
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-18574279

Lonesome George was found dead in his corral by his keepers on Sunday morning

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Staff at the Galapagos National Park in Ecuador say Lonesome George, a giant tortoise believed to be the last of its subspecies, has died.

Scientists estimate he was about 100 years old.

Park officials said they would carry out a post-mortem to determine the cause of his death.

With no offspring and no known individuals from his subspecies left, Lonesome George became known as the rarest creature in the world.

For decades, environmentalists unsuccessfully tried to get the Pinta Island tortoise to reproduce with females from a similar subspecies on the Galapagos Islands.

Park officials said the tortoise was found dead in his corral by his keeper of 40 years, Fausto Llerena.

While his exact age was not known, Lonesome George was estimated to be about 100, which made him a young adult as the subspecies can live up to an age of 200.

Galapagos icon

Lonesome George was first seen by a Hungarian scientist on the Galapagos island of Pinta in 1972.

Environmentalists had believed his subspecies (Chelonoidis nigra abingdoni) had become extinct.

Lonesome George became part of the Galapagos National Park breeding programme.

After 15 years of living with a female tortoise from the nearby Wolf volcano, Lonesome George did mate, but the eggs were infertile.

He also shared his corral with female tortoises from Espanola island, which are genetically closer to him than those from Wolf volcano, but Lonesome George failed to mate with them.

He became a become a symbol of the Galapagos Islands, which attract some 180,000 visitors a year.

Hunted to extinction

Galapagos National Park officials said that with George's death, the Pinta tortoise subspecies has become extinct.

They said his body would probably be embalmed to conserve him for future generations.

Tortoises were plentiful on the Galapagos islands until the late 19th century, but were later hunted for their meat by sailors and fishermen to the point of extinction.

Their habitat furthermore suffered when goats were introduced from the mainland.

The differences in appearance between tortoises from different Galapagos islands were among the features which helped the British naturalist Charles Darwin formulate his theory of evolution.

Some 20,000 giant tortoises of other subspecies still live on the Galapagos.

 

[michael59]

I wondered why tortoises live so long and the answer was:

According to this theory, tortoises live longer because their slow metabolisms burn less energy, which means less harm to the cells in their bodies. ... The tortoises essentially reserve their biological resources to keep themselves alive—they needn't rely on them to aid procreation while they're young.

So then I asked how old is the oldest sloth. It was only 43 when it died. So, does that debunk the tortoise theory?

 

[JamesWhitehead]

does that debunk the tortoise theory?

A pupil of mine asked me whether sloths were bears with Down's Syndrome!* So far as I could make out, she was not being naughty.

*I resisted the Upside-Down's retort then but you may have it now! :mcoat:

 

[michael59]

A pupil of mine asked me whether sloths were bears with Down's Syndrome!* So far as I could make out, she was not being naughty.

*I resisted the Upside-Down's retort then but you may have it now! :mcoat:

Well, sloth's have a very slow metabolisms so if slow metabolism is why a tortoise lives so long then, sloth's should live at least as long, right?

Researchers studied two species of sloth in Costa Rica. They measured the rate at which these animals’ bodies operate, converting food to fuel and growth. And this metabolic rate in one species of three-toed sloth was the lowest ever recorded — not just for a sloth, but for any mammal.

https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/mammal-has-worlds-slowest-metabolism

 

[IbisNibs]

Well, sloth's have a very slow metabolisms so if slow metabolism is why a tortoise lives so long then, sloth's should live at least as long, right?
https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/mammal-has-worlds-slowest-metabolism

I think the clue might be that tortoises "needn't rely on [their biological resources] to aid procreation while they're young." Maybe sloths are randy, despite being so languid.

 

[michael59]

I think the clue might be that tortoises "needn't rely on [their biological resources] to aid procreation while they're young." Maybe sloths are randy, despite being so languid.

Thanks, IbisNibs.

Maybe tortoises live so long because they have to. Only 1 in 10,000 make it to adulthood.

 

[ramonmercado]

No regard for the safety of the tortoises.

Customs officials in Ecuador discovered 185 baby tortoises packed inside a suitcase that was being sent from the Galápagos Islands to the mainland on Sunday.

The reptiles had been wrapped in plastic and were found during a routine inspection at the main airport on the island of Baltra.
Ten of them had died, officials said. One of the biggest threats to Galápagos tortoises is illegal trading for animal collectors and exotic pet markets. The tortoises seized at the airport on Baltra are thought to be less than three months old.

Officials combatting wildlife trafficking say hatchling-sized juveniles can fetch sums of more than $5,000 (£3,600) per animal.

It is believed the smugglers wrapped the tortoises in plastic to immobilise them but the X-ray machine's operator at the airport nevertheless grew suspicious.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-56564326

 

[EnolaGaia]

News Flash: Some tortoises have now been proven to be actively carnivorous - and they hunt live prey.

For The First Time, a Tortoise Has Been Filmed Going in For The Kill… Very Slowly

In what amounts to perhaps the most unhurried act of animal predation ever caught on camera, researchers have filmed for the first time a giant tortoise slowly – ever so slowly – closing in for the kill.

This drawn-out encounter – between a lumbering, almost leisurely giant tortoise (Aldabrachelys gigantea) and its grounded bird prey – is gruesome to watch. But it's also entirely transfixing.

After all, we've never seen a tortoise 'hunt' anything before. Who knew these dawdling giants had it in them? ...

The footage, captured on Frégate Island in the Seychelles archipelago, shows a female giant tortoise slowly pursuing a flightless lesser noddy tern (Anous tenuirostris) chick.

In a new study describing the encounter – said to be the "first documented observation of a tortoise deliberately attacking and consuming another animal" – the researchers indicate the hunt lasted seven minutes in total, including a passage where the tortoise pursued the chick along the top of a log. ...

While tortoises such as A. gigantea (aka the Aldabra giant tortoise) are primarily herbivorous, the researchers say there have been anecdotal reports of tortoises squashing crabs with their carapaces, or unfilmed reports of the primarily herbivorous animals eating birds or consuming carrion.

Nonetheless, prior studies have never surfaced any actual evidence of hunting. ...

FULL STORY: https://www.sciencealert.com/for-th...been-filmed-going-in-for-the-kill-very-slowly

 

[EnolaGaia]

Here are the bibliographic particulars and summary for the published research report.

Giant tortoises hunt and consume birds
Current Biology
CORRESPONDENCE| VOLUME 31, ISSUE 16, PR989-R990, AUGUST 23, 2021
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.06.088

Summary
Tortoises (land turtles) are familiar animals and are generally assumed to be strict herbivores. Their ecological roles are most obvious in giant tortoise species which, due to their size and local abundance, play major roles as keystone species and ecosystem engineers1, 2, 3. In the Galápagos and Seychelles islands these species are known to play major roles as the islands’ largest herbivores, with exceptionally high biomass and consuming up to 11% of primary production1. In addition they act as ecosystem engineers, dispersing seeds, breaking vegetation and eroding rocks2. However, as slow-moving poikilotherms most people assume their behaviour to be simple. Here we present video evidence of a Seychelles giant tortoise (Aldabrachelys gigantea) attacking a tern chick and pursuing it along a log. Finally the tortoise killed the chick and was observed to eat it. Other tortoises in the same area have been seen making similar attacks, although those were not fully documented. We believe that the exceptional combination of a tree-nesting tern colony with a resident giant tortoise population has created conditions leading to systematic hunting of birds by several individual tortoises; an entirely novel behavioural strategy for any tortoise species.

SOURCE (With Photos & Video): https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(21)00917-9

 

[GNC]

Technically, a tortoise is just one step away from a T-rex. Proof!

 

[EnolaGaia]

Guinness has awarded a tortoise on St. Helena the record for oldest tortoise ever. This is in addition to the tortoise's prior Guinness recognition as the reigning oldest land animal.

Tortoise declared oldest ever at 190 years or more

A tortoise previously declared the world's oldest living land animal by Guinness World Records has been awarded a second title -- the oldest tortoise ever.

Jonathan, a tortoise that lives on St. Helena, a British overseas territory in the Atlantic Ocean, is believed to be at least 190 years old, as the animal was fully mature -- at least 50 years old -- when he arrived on St. Helena in 1882. ...

The tortoise's latest Guinness World Records title is officially "oldest chelonian," a category including all turtles, terrapins and tortoises.

The previous record-holder was Tu'i Malila, a radiated tortoise that died at the estimated age of 188 in 1965.

The St. Helena government said Jonathan is blind and has lost his sense of smell, but eats well when hand-fed ...

Veterinarian Joe Hollins said Jonathan still is active, and often enjoys the company of fellow giant tortoises David, Emma and Fred.

"In spite of his age, Jonathan still has good libido and is seen frequently to mate with Emma and sometimes Fred -- animals are often not particularly gender-sensitive" ...

FULL STORY: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2022/0...cords-oldest-tortoise-Jonathan/6131642095949/

 

[PeteByrdie]

Technically, a tortoise is just one step away from a T-rex. Proof!

But the tortoise will never catch up, he's too slow. Rexy is just teasing him.

I'd have made that joke earlier but didn't see the post.

 

[ramonmercado]

Police reported to be shell shocked by this discovery.

Several giant tortoises have been found dead in woodland, police have confirmed.

Officers said seven dead tortoises were found in a wooded area to the north of Exeter in Devon. Two of the tortoises were found on 8 January, and another five were found nearby on Friday. The force said they were thought to be Aldabra giant tortoises - classed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Devon and Cornwall Police said enquiries were under way to identify the owners and establish the circumstances surrounding the animals' deaths and the disposal of their bodies.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-devon-67993881

 

[escargot]

Police reported to be shell shocked by this discovery.

Several giant tortoises have been found dead in woodland, police have confirmed.

Officers said seven dead tortoises were found in a wooded area to the north of Exeter in Devon. Two of the tortoises were found on 8 January, and another five were found nearby on Friday. The force said they were thought to be Aldabra giant tortoises - classed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Devon and Cornwall Police said enquiries were under way to identify the owners and establish the circumstances surrounding the animals' deaths and the disposal of their bodies.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-devon-67993881

Sounds like an animal-smuggling racket gone wrong.
The poor things would have needed a highly specialised environment with expert care. Someone wasn't up to providing it.