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Mammoth Springs

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Donatello


Bruce and I wrangled an invitation to Pete's to see his desert African spurred tortoise, Donotello, this morning.

He is at least 15 years old and just a beautiful creature. The tortoise, Pete is a hell of a lot older than that and not near as good looking.

Here, Pete's son in law Jason helps us out with the tortoise in question, one Centrochelys sulcata.


An alien visiting our planet for the very first time would have the same reaction looking at Donotello as I would if I accidentally bumped into a stegosaurus. Freaking otherworldly.

Bruce, the tortoise whisperer



3 comments:

Sanoguy said...

Better looking than Pete for sure. However, there is a certain resemblance!

Helen Killeen Bauch McHargue said...

In the final photo, it's arms almost look like wings. I wonder what competitive or
evolutionary advantage the segments on the arms serve? Is it male or female?

Blue Heron said...

A gentleman doesn't check...but I will find out, assuming it is ♂ from the name.