berlam
7 hours ago
> In July 2023 there was a fight between David and Fredrik which resulted in Fredrik being turned onto his back and left to die, in an area where his plight would not have been visible from the house or the tortoise viewing area. Fortunately he was spotted in time by visiting vet Joe Hollins, who turned Fredrik the right way up with no long-lasting ill effects. This is apparently not the first time recently when a tortoise has been turned over, though in the other occasion it was David who finished the wrong way up, not after a fight but after an unsuccessful attempt to mount Emma for mating purposes…
His companions. Never thought tortoises have such a wild life.
binaryturtle
5 hours ago
Shouldn't it be easy to attach a sensor at the belly of the turtle that alarms staff when it happens. Sounds like an actual no-brainer use for modern technology.
jyounker
2 hours ago
That would probably really piss the tortoise off. Imagine if your ass was made out of bone, and someone glued a lego to it. Sitting down would be a nightmare.
whyage
5 hours ago
How did these animals survive as a species for millions of years with this flip-over bug in their genes? Why hasn't evolution solved it, for example, by eliminating flip-prone individuals from the gene pool and giving better survival chances to those who can right themselves?
jyounker
2 hours ago
> How did these animals survive as a species for millions of years with this flip-over bug in their genes?
Whether or not they can right themselves depends upon the terrain. Falling over can be a fatal experience for humans too.
> Why hasn't evolution solved it, for example, by eliminating flip-prone individuals from the gene pool and giving better survival chances to those who can right themselves?
Evolution is all about trade-offs. Being big makes it hard to right yourself, but it also makes you much harder to flip. It probably also probably makes you much hotter to potential mates.
jyounker
2 hours ago
The web is a wonderful place: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/giant-tortoise-galapag...
bragr
4 hours ago
You're assuming natural selection selects for not flipping over, when in reality, it selects for the winner of the shell flipping contest as presumably without intervention, the flipped tortoise does not breed, while the winning tortoise does (or at least still has the opportunity to)
yieldcrv
2 hours ago
They reproduce before it happens and the brood sizes are too numerous to select against that
notatoad
4 hours ago
Evolution can’t compete with Joe Hollins
hilsdev
6 hours ago
Life would be so much more magical and special if attempting to penetrate your mate could result in a slow death of dehydration and starvation, if not being torn to shreds by a passing bird of prey.