#tortoise

#tortoise

Two-Headed Tortoise Turns 25Conjoined twins in the animal world often don't survive very long, for various reasons. Even if they don't have serious anatomical abnormalities, they are often mobility-impaired and are easy prey. But a two-headed tortoise named Janus (for the two-headed Roman god) lucked out with a permanent home at the Geneva Natural History Museum, where they were hatched in 1997. With love and care, Janus has just passed their 25th birthday!

Missing Tortoise Found 30 Years LaterNathalye De Almeida tells how her family had a pet tortoise when her mother was a child, but one day in 1982, he was just gone. The eight-year-old loved that tortoise and never forgot Manuela. Nathalye heard tales of Manuela the whole time she was growing up. But no one knew where the tortoise had gone. Until 2013. After Nathalye's grandfather passed away, the family had to sort his possessions. They went up into the attic, where stuff had been stored away for years and years. They found Manuela in a speaker cabinet. What's more, the tortoise was alive! Nathalye's mother was brought to tears by the discovery. How did the tortoise survive in the attic so long? The family believes Manuela must have been eating termite larva. Almost ten years later, the tortoise is still with the family, and is healthy. Except now he is called Manuel, since they found out he is male. Read more on this story at The Dodo.(Image source: Joao Leomi Silva Nunes) #tortoise #turtle #missingpet

The Slowest Walk Down the Aisle: Couple's Pet Tortoise is Ring Bearer for the WeddingA 20-year old Sulcata tortoise became a ring bearer in the wedding of exotic animal veterinarians Ericka and Jay Johnson at Tohono Chul Botanical Gardens in Tucson, Arizona. It took 3 minutes for the reptile to walk down the aisle, unlike the others that usually took only a few seconds.

Jonathan the 190-Year-Old TortoiseIn 1882, a tortoise was taken from the Seychelles and gifted to the governor of the island of St. Helena. He was fully mature at the time, which takes 50 years for his species, the Seychelles giant tortoise or Aldabrachelys gigantea hololissa. The tortoise named Jonathan was given a conservative birth date of 1832. In 1886, the photograph above was taken, showing Jonathan on the left. Jonathan is still living on the island of St. Helena, and still getting his picture taken, at the age of 190!