I know there is a bit of debate on the nutritional content and the toxicity vs safety of a variety of plants for tortoises and I wonder if we are making a pretty big mistake by assuming something is toxic for a tortoise just because it's toxic to certain mammals. We seem to gage much of our safety assumption on wether a human, cat, dog, and even horse can eat a particular plant. I wonder if tortoises have a better sense of what is toxic to them than we do? I know many of us own captive bred animals but even still these animals are equipped with instincts for their survival.
Of course it could be argued that a species that is being raised in an environment other than it's natural born habitat could unknowingly ingest plants that could be potentially toxic but how would that be different really than if they had hatched in the wild in their natural habitat. They aren't taught by a parent what to eat and not eat and use their instincts to survive. Evolution in their own natural habitat may have them wired to know which plants are desirable and which plants will make them sick, and apparently they even seem to know which seasonal plants they can eat to worm themselves. FASCINATING.
Anyways, without eating up an incredible amount of time I don't really have, digging up studies, I was just wondering your thoughts. Do you think they instinctively know when (seasonal/deficiency/parasites) and what to eat? Can they smell or sample a plant and tell wether or not it's something they should or can eat? Are some species better at this than others? I watch my tortoises sample the plants around them, sometimes moving on, and sometimes stopping for a graze and I just wonder how much more they know than we really do, or think *they* do.
I also wonder if we aren't restricting foods that they could or would eat if they weren't labeled toxic to mammals.
Elohi(Earth)
Of course it could be argued that a species that is being raised in an environment other than it's natural born habitat could unknowingly ingest plants that could be potentially toxic but how would that be different really than if they had hatched in the wild in their natural habitat. They aren't taught by a parent what to eat and not eat and use their instincts to survive. Evolution in their own natural habitat may have them wired to know which plants are desirable and which plants will make them sick, and apparently they even seem to know which seasonal plants they can eat to worm themselves. FASCINATING.
Anyways, without eating up an incredible amount of time I don't really have, digging up studies, I was just wondering your thoughts. Do you think they instinctively know when (seasonal/deficiency/parasites) and what to eat? Can they smell or sample a plant and tell wether or not it's something they should or can eat? Are some species better at this than others? I watch my tortoises sample the plants around them, sometimes moving on, and sometimes stopping for a graze and I just wonder how much more they know than we really do, or think *they* do.
I also wonder if we aren't restricting foods that they could or would eat if they weren't labeled toxic to mammals.
Elohi(Earth)
some plants are just too toxic to let them try... Maybe that's what happens! Or I may be completely wrong, I sound logical though 
