Russian hybrids?
- Thread starter satdiver
- Start date
Interesting question. I ran a turtle rescue for around fifty years, and I've never seen any Mediterranean hybrids.
Thomas tortoise
Well-Known Member
I was wondering about that too! But only with sulcatas and leopards cause they are both big.( I know the sulcata will get bigger) but I think a leopard and a sully would look so beautiful if they could be breeded. Do you know if you can Inter breed these @Tom ?
WHY? Why do people insist on wanting to mix species, ugh!!!
Thomas tortoise
Well-Known Member
Whats wrong with it?
What is good about it?
Why not leave species be what they are? Enough with the mutts already. Why do humans have to ruin everything!
Thomas tortoise
Well-Known Member
Hybrids are cute you said it yourself! And you have a chance to change history why not have hybrids?
Thomas tortoise
Well-Known Member
If it hurts the tortoises then I get it and I won't like hybrids anymore but if it doesn't hurt the animal then why not?
I think every animal is cute.
I think purposely screwing up species by crossing them is human ignorance and destruction!
Thomas tortoise
Well-Known Member
Its not destruction cause the original species will still exist!
it is destructive to the hobby ....... cuora are really expensive , they are intentionally cross bred on chinese turtle farms for that reason ........
Detecting intraspecific hybrids in Testudo hermanni (Gmelin 1789)
"The genetic pollution of natural populations of Testudo hermanni hermanni in Italy has been recorded by Frisenda & Ballasina (1990) for tortoises in Tuscany which resulted from cross-breeding with Balkan tortoises"
If you really cared for either of the animals you are wanting to do breeding experiments on why would you risk their health or the health of the babies if it worked and something went wrong what no big deal they were just tortoises,sounds like you hope to create a species just to make money
Absolutely
Thomas tortoise
Well-Known Member
Look I am not trying to be mean but the whole point of life is evolving and making money! Doing experiments is part of life how did people find out if sulcata tortoises should be kept in dry climates or humid? They did experiments and the one they kept in dry climates ended up very unhealthy and has a very pyramided shell. That is just one example out of millions! You all just sound like you want to do what's right and you think it is right not to breed them but you don't have any reason not to breed them! You say "oh its destruction!" Well its not! If you guys can come up with a few reasons to stop people form breeding leos and sullys then I will probably agree with you but none of you came up with adequate reasons.
Here are three reasons. Any one of which is reason enough not to do this by itself. If you read the threads on this, you will see lots of reason to not hybridize.
My concern is not that hybrids will make it back to Africa and pollute the wild gene pool. My concern is that what we have here in the US is all we will ever have. Importation was banned almost 24 years ago (1998), and what we have in captivity right now is all we will ever have. If we fail to preserve it and start mixing species and genetics we will eventually lose what we've got. It is already happening with mixing different locales of leopards and RFs. Mixing entirely different species just muddies the waters exponentially.
Further issues with this:
1. Showing pictures like these encourages more of this, and these two species should never be mixed. Behaviorally they are very incompatible.
2. Mixing species should not be encouraged because of the very real increased disease potential.
Thomas tortoise
Well-Known Member
Okay. Thank you! Now I know. I'll drop it now. sorry😖
You made a valid point in asking why. We should be able to articulate why we make the assertions we make. And when we do, you listen to it and then make your own judgement on the subject. That is as it should be. No apology necessary.
When I saw the thread title, I thought the question might be about mixing Russian Tortoise sub-species....
Jamie
Jamie
