Photo credit: Gary Stolz, US Fish and Wildlife photo
What do YOU think about this video:
An overturned tortoise is boosted from behind by his companion, which helps him to right him (her) self. Do you think the tortoise is purposely helping a friend? Why or why not? How smart are tortoises? Do you know any tortoises personally? Do you believe a tortoise forms friendships?
What about this video?
Let us know what you think!
Kayce,
I had seen the clip on the hippo and tortoise along with this astonishing story, a man and crocodile that he befriended! This was not imprinting a hatchling but a rescue of a full adult and how it took years to develop a relationship.
http://www.rense.com/general94/friend.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PefKwpNynyc
This clip is not quite the one I was looking for but has something I’d not seen in others. He has a bag of fish next to the croc that he feeds as rewards. The croc does not just grab and devour but waits for feeding. The clip I was looking for showed them swimming and there was a softness in the body language of the croc towards the man that looked like affection. I’ve seen a few brief clips of crocodile females guarding nests and tending the communal nursery of hatchlings where one female would carry them in her mouth and guard them for several weeks. That soft sort of look was similar.
With the tortoises, isn’t this the same flipping behavior used in fighting? That to me could seem quite hardwired. But this reversal, flipping upright, seemed more conscious. The helper went to the spot that was the opposite of where it would flip an opponent, and worked for several moments with some readjusting to flip upright.
Since it followed the other so closely from the rear, I suspect that romance may have been the motive. Yet is this hard wired or conscious? I can’t put my finger on what details in body language make me think it was conscious.
It’s easier to think it was a choice, an understanding that the other needed a boost even if lust was the motivator, after seeing the croc cuddling up in the video I’ve not been able to locate. The slow, soft behavior is not at all like the slow, stealthy behavior of a predator.
Have you ever heard of tortoises observed flipping another tortoise upright before?
Wow!
This is really neat, Julie. I have not heard of any of this before. Nowadays, if I have to go with a default response, I’m going to say they are conscious in these cases. Amazing. I don’t know if I would swim with a crock, no matter what, however. Thanks so much for this and I’ll keep my eyes peeled for the crockodile video. Amazing.