Tortoises
do not have the reputation of moving very rapidly, so it’s not surprising to
hear that a couple of giant tortoises have been together for rather a long
time. It is estimated that they are about 115 years old and have been chums for
all of that time. Firstly in Switzerland at Basel, before moving to Austria and
Klagenfurt.
As
they were male and female, it was always taken for granted that they were a
couple. Bibi was the female and Poldi was the male and everything was going
along nicely until recently. Suddenly there was a spat during which Bibi gave
Poldi a piece of her mind and chomped off a large piece of his shell to boot.
It
seems that the rift is not repairable (1,2,3). Couples therapy has been tried and
their friends have even fed them quantities of aphrodisiacs, but all to no
avail; they refuse to come out of their shells. So it’s a case of giant
tortoise – giant spat.
Now
this might seem to be a simple problem, but they weigh in at about 100 kg each
and have a very powerful bite (no teeth but very hard gums – at 115 what can
you expect) so ignoring Bibi’s demands to have the house and furniture could be
a mistake.
The
diehards at Klagenfurt are still trying to jolly them along with games and the
tortoise equivalent of candlelight dinners, but so far she is adamant. I guess
if she has been thinking about it for 115 years, she’s not going to change her
mind overnight and everyone should move on.
Poldi
will just have to set up in a new location and get his shell manicured before
going out to check out the local equivalents of tortoise bimbos. Perhaps he
should try a computer-dating site, but I would advise him against signing up
for any speed dating events.
- http://austriantimes.at/image/30308/news/General_News/2012-06-08/42193/Shelling_Out_for_a_Divorce
- http://news.discovery.com/animals/tortoise-couple-breaks-up-120611.html
- http://www.buzzfeed.com/summeranne/100-year-tortoise-marriage-ends-in-divorce
