New Member with a quick question
- Thread starter rm2985
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Yes, but can they have babies? No. They're not closely enough related. Tortoises within the Gopherus genus can cross breed. African sulcatas and African Leopards can have viable eggs from mating together. Yellowfoots and Redfoots can. But not sulcatas and desert tortoses.
Would be a great combo tho wouldn't it?
Heck, if it's possible to get hatchlings from a Redfoot and a Radiated tortoise, than it's probably possible to get hatchlings from that breeding. Though you wouldn't get many as the fertility rate would probably be low.
Danny
Danny
so Dan, you're saying it could be possible though??
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Can a radiated tortoise mate with a leopard tortoise/?
Can they even be held together in the same terrarium?
Can they even be held together in the same terrarium?
egyptiandan said:
Welcome back Danny
coreyc said:egyptiandan said:
Welcome back Danny
His post was from last september...the thread just got refreshed because someone posted something yesterday...sorry
Not your fault I guess I read it to fastjeffbens0n said:coreyc said:egyptiandan said:
Welcome back Danny
His post was from last september...the thread just got refreshed because someone posted something yesterday...sorry
was hoping he was back oh well
Radiated Tortoise said:
Hi Radiated Tortoise:
Welcome to the forum!! May we know your name and where you are?
Its not advisable to mix different species of tortoises together. Because of individual pathogens in each different species, you might end up with a sick or dead tortoise.
As to whether they will actually breed... probably not. The Red-foot x Radiated cross is based on one known animal that we do not know the fertility of.
We don't have all of the relationships down perfectly, but as we get better at our understanding and naming, we would be able to predict the ability to crossbreed.
Any two animals in the same species should be able to rather freely crossbreed, even if they are subspecies or races- like two kinds of Red-foot Tortoises (Geochelone (Chelonoidis) carbonaria).
Two different species from the same genus might be able to breed but probably with sterile offspring. However, there is a catch at this level in which some types of animals, like big cats, can still produce fertile offspring due to interesting characteristics in the sex chromosomes. Burmese Star Geochelone platynota) x Sulcata (G. sulcata), for example, MAY occur but are probably sterile.
Two animals from different genera in the same family MAY be able to cross breed, but it is getting tougher because of bigger differences in the DNA- like a Leopard ([iStygmochelys pardalis and a Radiated (Astrochelys radiata). If it DOES turn out that two animals at this level can produce off-spring, we probably have one of them mis-named somehow.
As we move to different families in the same order, things just get nearly impossible for both DNA and mechanical reasons- sea turtles mating with Galapagos tortoises, for example.
We don't have all of the relationships down perfectly, but as we get better at our understanding and naming, we would be able to predict the ability to crossbreed.
Any two animals in the same species should be able to rather freely crossbreed, even if they are subspecies or races- like two kinds of Red-foot Tortoises (Geochelone (Chelonoidis) carbonaria).
Two different species from the same genus might be able to breed but probably with sterile offspring. However, there is a catch at this level in which some types of animals, like big cats, can still produce fertile offspring due to interesting characteristics in the sex chromosomes. Burmese Star Geochelone platynota) x Sulcata (G. sulcata), for example, MAY occur but are probably sterile.
Two animals from different genera in the same family MAY be able to cross breed, but it is getting tougher because of bigger differences in the DNA- like a Leopard ([iStygmochelys pardalis and a Radiated (Astrochelys radiata). If it DOES turn out that two animals at this level can produce off-spring, we probably have one of them mis-named somehow.
As we move to different families in the same order, things just get nearly impossible for both DNA and mechanical reasons- sea turtles mating with Galapagos tortoises, for example.
Until I was given a "presumed mule" made from Xing a cornsnake with a bullsnake, I'd've said no, but nowdays I say "beats me"!
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