Tortoise showing empathy, or something else?

[Varanid]

FWIW- I work with turtles (among other reptiles) for a living. I am not "Joe Tortoise" but have worked with/bred them for a while.

This is mating behavior. The one upside down looks female, the "flipper" acts male.

What is interesting is that many turtles can right them selves easily enough. These though appear to be G. pardalis (Leopard Tortoises - though I could be mistaken) which are highly domed, and as such not apt to right themselves easily.

Turtles appear cute and cuddly to most, but they are horny, eating/pooping machines with no sympathy for their keepers.

 

[Varanid]

Incidentally, land turtles are generally able to eventually right themselves, unless stuck in a hole, or something.. If being flipped was a death sentence, this slow-breeding creature would not have been around for so long.

Hans

Depends on the species. Some are more or less sentenced to death when flipped.

 

[quarky]

FWIW- I work with turtles (among other reptiles) for a living. I am not "Joe Tortoise" but have worked with/bred them for a while.

This is mating behavior. The one upside down looks female, the "flipper" acts male.

What is interesting is that many turtles can right them selves easily enough. These though appear to be G. pardalis (Leopard Tortoises - though I could be mistaken) which are highly domed, and as such not apt to right themselves easily.

Turtles appear cute and cuddly to most, but they are horny, eating/pooping machines with no sympathy for their keepers.

Not wanting to be nosy, but I am intrigued by your job description.
Care to share?

As per the steep dome of the video turtles, same thought struck me..yet, it sure wasn't the same struggle one observes when finding a turtle on its back.

Much too casual.

Also, when i considered a steeper domed shell on a flat surface, it actually seems that it would be easier for said turtle to flip over.
The worst possible turtle shell for getting stuck up-side down, I would think, is a flat top shell.

 

[Varanid]

I love snapping turtles, common and alligator snapper. I used to catch them by the dozen as a kid. Here in central Oklahoma we only have common snappers, and it always was frustrating to hear every kid who found one ignorant of the distinction, always calling them alligator snappers, as I was always on the search for authentic macroclemys specimens. I've still never caught one in the wild, just chelydra serpentina.

I'd love to see this courtship video.

The Macroclemys are easier to pick up! I am more careful dealing with Chelydra than just about any other native animal.

 

[Varanid]

Not wanting to be nosy, but I am intrigued by your job description.
Care to share?

Would love to, but I must stay anonymous because of my blasphemous musings here. I have already probably put too many clues out there.

Basically, I work in the enviro-ed field. I have worked with reptiles in a variety of contexts.

 

[quarky]

Would love to, but I must stay anonymous because of my blasphemous musings here. I have already probably put too many clues out there.

Basically, I work in the enviro-ed field. I have worked with reptiles in a variety of contexts.

I understand.
I too enjoy the anonymous-ness of the forum.
Sometimes i want to link my own work in an argument, but don't, because of this.

I'm actually an authority on a subject (and get paid to be one) that no one here (hopefully) knows about.

PM? I'll show you mine if you show me yours?

Its amphibians that I've observed longer and harder, btw.
If someone started a frog thread, i'd be hard-pressed to pretend ignorance.

 

[Varanid]

You've got a PM quarky.

 

[Corsair 115]

Well at least we now know that the tortoise isn't a replicant...

You did remember to ask it about its mother, right?

Turtles appear cute and cuddly to most, but they are horny, eating/pooping machines with no sympathy for their keepers.

So, they're a lot like some humans then?