Tortoises Being Trained to Move Faster
- 11 years ago
At Leicestershire, England’s Twycross Zoo, giant tortoises are undergoing training to teach them to move faster.
Turtles and tortoises are not exactly known to be fast.
At Leicestershire, England’s Twycross Zoo, giant tortoises are undergoing training to teach them to move faster.
As much as that sounds like an exercise in futility - akin to, say, herding cats - it’s actually an act of necessity.
The tortoise habitat is expanding its outside area. This means at the end of the day the famously pokey reptiles will probably have greater difficulties getting back indoors, where they spend their nights.
According to zoo keeper Ryan Berry getting them inside is already pretty difficult. The 400-pound creatures move at a pace of about 1 mile per hour.
To entice the tortoises to pick up the pace, trainers are bribing them with food. At first they offered the treats as rewards for meeting targets at close distances. As successes happened, they continued to move the targets back with the goal of getting the tortoises to move at a steady pace.
Turtles and tortoises are not exactly known to be fast.
At Leicestershire, England’s Twycross Zoo, giant tortoises are undergoing training to teach them to move faster.
As much as that sounds like an exercise in futility - akin to, say, herding cats - it’s actually an act of necessity.
The tortoise habitat is expanding its outside area. This means at the end of the day the famously pokey reptiles will probably have greater difficulties getting back indoors, where they spend their nights.
According to zoo keeper Ryan Berry getting them inside is already pretty difficult. The 400-pound creatures move at a pace of about 1 mile per hour.
To entice the tortoises to pick up the pace, trainers are bribing them with food. At first they offered the treats as rewards for meeting targets at close distances. As successes happened, they continued to move the targets back with the goal of getting the tortoises to move at a steady pace.