Sulcatas can Swim?!?

[Wewt]

Whaaaat??

I was reading / admiring a thread on all of Tom's tortoises (holy- what a collection!), and I saw a picture of a sulcata swimming!

I've always been told that they will just sink, and I've heard stories of people finding their sulcatas in the bottoms of pools (and surviving, I might add)...

So what's the deal here? Is it just the babies? Can I go swimming with my tort??!

 

[Tom]

Dean tells me they can't swim after a certain size. I have not tested this yet. Give it a go if you like, but exercise great caution. If your tortoise sinks, a one second dunk won't hurt him, but I would not let him near a pool unsupervised just the same.

 

[Wewt]

I will have to take my tort to the lake to experiment...

 

[Arnold_rules]

It appears some of the big boys can swim:

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-5405.html

Although, it appears they are on of the few species that can, explains why my DT uses a raft in his enclosure when it rains, yes it does rain in AZ, instead of swimming around.

 

[Wewt]

It appears some of the big boys can swim:

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-5405.html

So, why not a Sulcata? Still not sure I would want to experiment too much. Although, it has been raining here in AZ the last couple of days and my DT was rowing around his enclosure in a little life raft.

THAT is the coolest thing I have ever seen. Reminds me of an elephant swimming the way he moves in the water. Lake, here I come!

Perhaps I should get my little man some swim trunks.

 

[Arnold_rules]

It appears some of the big boys can swim:

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-5405.html

So, why not a Sulcata? Still not sure I would want to experiment too much. Although, it has been raining here in AZ the last couple of days and my DT was rowing around his enclosure in a little life raft.

THAT is the coolest thing I have ever seen. Reminds me of an elephant swimming the way he moves in the water. Lake, here I come!

Perhaps I should get my little man some swim trunks.

Remember, it doesn't happen without video and I bet he will look stunning in a speedo.

 

[Wewt]

It appears some of the big boys can swim:

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-5405.html

So, why not a Sulcata? Still not sure I would want to experiment too much. Although, it has been raining here in AZ the last couple of days and my DT was rowing around his enclosure in a little life raft.

THAT is the coolest thing I have ever seen. Reminds me of an elephant swimming the way he moves in the water. Lake, here I come!

Perhaps I should get my little man some swim trunks.

Remember, it doesn't happen without video and I bet he will look stunning in a speedo.

I think perhaps I should make a tortoise version of Baywatch. My tort will be David Hasselhoff, of course. Now accepting applications for Pamela Anderson.

 

[Lilyloveslettuse]

Um..... No. How could you swim if you had a big shell on your back????


-lll

 

[Baoh]

Um..... No. How could you swim if you had a big shell on your back????


-lll

With the big flotation devices that fill a nice portion of it.

 

[kanalomele]

Actually yes many species of tortoise can swim. Redfoots are naturally good swimmers. I have seen with my own eyes Russians and Leopards swim nicely as well. I rely on this ability in my rehabilitation work. I quite often use swimming as a low impact form of exercise for the ones that come to me for rescue and recovery. Their lungs are at the top of their shell which acts as a form of built in flotation devices. Essentially natural "water wings" for tortoises.

Here is a picture previously posted on TFO. It shows an Aldabra tortoise with barnacles growing on it. This tortoise came ashore after swimming at sea. Some think that based on the size of the attached barnacles it could have been in the ocean for weeks.

 

[Wewt]

Actually yes many species of tortoise can swim. Redfoots are naturally good swimmers. I have seen with my own eyes Russians and Leopards swim nicely as well. I rely on this ability in my rehabilitation work. I quite often use swimming as a low impact form of exercise for the ones that come to me for rescue and recovery. Their lungs are at the top of their shell which acts as a form of built in flotation devices. Essentially natural "water wings" for tortoises.

Here is a picture previously posted on TFO. It shows an Aldabra tortoise with barnacles growing on it. This tortoise came ashore after swimming at sea. Some think that based on the size of the attached barnacles it could have been in the ocean for weeks.

That is absolutely insane! Before now I couldn't imagine a tortoise swimming at all, but for weeks?! Wow. I can't wait to take my tortoise to the lake to see if he is a good swimmer!

 

[Arnold_rules]

There could be a new swimming stroke, the "tortoise paddle".

 

[Wewt]

There could be a new swimming stroke, the "tortoise paddle".

Hahaha! Sounds... awkward.

 

[Livingstone]

I don't know about a sulcata swimming. From an evolutionary standpoint one would think that if an aldabra can do it then why not a sulcata... But if you look at where aldabras come from its much easier to surmise that they would have better instincts in water than a sulcata. I would probably try a bath-tub if you reallt want to see what happens, that way you can control the level of the water and bathtubs have a natural gradient too.

In my opinion there isn't much reason to experiment with this, beyond the obvious reason that it serves no purpose, it may actually traumatize the animal in which case even shallow water soaks might become more difficult.

 

[Wewt]

I don't know about a sulcata swimming. From an evolutionary standpoint one would think that if an aldabra can do it then why not a sulcata... But if you look at where aldabras come from its much easier to surmise that they would have better instincts in water than a sulcata. I would probably try a bath-tub if you reallt want to see what happens, that way you can control the level of the water and bathtubs have a natural gradient too.

In my opinion there isn't much reason to experiment with this, beyond the obvious reason that it serves no purpose, it may actually traumatize the animal in which case even shallow water soaks might become more difficult.

Yeah, I see your point. Sulcatas typically wouldn't be around water deep enough to swim in, unlike Aldabras.

I'd try the experiment in a bath tub, but he has his soaks in there and is already too big to turn around without much effort.

The experiment would be for interests sake, and I promise not to just drop him in the deep end... more like wade him in from the beach to see if he likes it. Who knows?

 

[Millerlite]

Aldabras were at one point a mainland tortoise much like the Galapagos tortoises and they are thought to have swam/floated to the islands they are at now. They get big because of island living. They arnt sure if they got bigger because they can get through longer periods without food, but seems like Ian's living makes them get bigger.

Side note my mt. Toroises love water and can swim quite well and don't stress when swimming just hangs out floating .

 

[Wewt]

Aldabras were at one point a mainland tortoise much like the Galapagos tortoises and they are thought to have swam/floated to the islands they are at now. They get big because of island living. They arnt sure if they got bigger because they can get through longer periods without food, but seems like Ian's living makes them get bigger.

Side note my mt. Toroises love water and can swim quite well and don't stress when swimming just hangs out floating .

I really wish my university classes stuck better, because there is a hypothesis that outlines why exactly some animals get super big on islands while others get really small. It goes on about why there are giant komodo dragons here present day, and why in the past there were mini-people and mini-elephants. Aldabras could be part of the same hypothesis. Super interesting! Wish I could remember the name of that hypothesis.

I'm excited to see if my tort is a natural swimmer.

 

[Assante]

That is called insular gigantism or island gigantism.

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[Wewt]

That is called insular gigantism or island gigantism.

Sent from my LG-MS770 using TortForum mobile app

Awesome, thank you! My googling did not help me at all, haha!