fighting tortoises?

[jim_dusa]

There shots were taken by Lara Hartley she wanted to share them with you. The comments below the pictures are Lara. ----- Posted by Jim


When we first came on this battling pair, it looked like the battle was all over. the tortoise on the left had flipped the one on the right onto his back. usually at this point, the victor walks away leaving the other tortoise to die. but ...

The victor then flipped the losing turtle back over ... the next few images show that sequence as it was shot.







so now it was time for a rest ...


and then to start the battle all over again.


They sounded like miniature tanks as they crashed together.

[Desert Cruiser]

Tell Lara thanks and really nice sequence of shots. Would have loved to have seen that.

Don....

[reptilist]

Wonderful natural history series!

[Iggy1]

Those were fantastic! Thanks for sharing.

[Desert Cruiser]

WOW I keep looking at this. AND did you notice how long the tortoise's toe nails are (one on the right) in the second photo down (third one down also)? His back toe nails?

Don....

[Kathy]

Thank you Lara and Reptilist for sharing such an amazing act of
nature.I had some tortoises but guess they loved each other because they never fought.They were youngsters so thats probably
why.One died and someone stole the other one.One I found on the
hwy. on her back and she was the size of a 50 cent piece.She was
the one stolen.The other came from a pet shop a friend bought it
and her dogs used it for a ball so she brought it to me.Poor thing had
her shell glued.I often wonder if something more was hurt inside of
her that the vet didn't catch.Kathy

[Jerry Feldner]

Great series capable of publication! Lara should get in touch with the Desert Tortoise Preserve Committee in Riverside, CA and/or the California Turtle and Tortoise Club ( http://www.cttc.org ). I have seen similar in life and my two males were at it just the other day but I have no female now so they were just fighting for fun.
As for leaving the upended loser to die, most of the tme they don't. The victor walks off, usually to mate with a nearby female, and the loser is left to turn himself over. Desert Tortoises are quite capable of righting themselves. However, I believe it is rare for a winner to help the loser get righted. Again, great shots!!

[mlv]

Did that one tortise know the other tortise is federally protected from harm ?!?!?!

Great photos, and I hope both DT's settled their differences without any loss of life!

[Desert Cruiser]

mlv: I'm sure they did. It's like chickens they have a pecking order thing going on. Who's going to get the girls?

By the way welcome to the site!!!!

Don....

[mlv]

Thanks for the welcome, I've posted before a few years ago, when the BB's were slightly different, but I've been lurking since.........Norm, Reptilist, Jerry F have all been around for quite awhile!

Thanks for the instruction on placing photos...........I never had a clue about how to do it, but it's easy once you do it!