The sulcata tortoise pictured recently with its belly up at the Taipei Zoo was overturned by its opponent in a fight for territory, the zoo said in a statement last week after the photograph went viral online.
The photo showed a zookeeper trying to stop a fight between two tortoises and help the overturned “loser” roll over.
Sulcata tortoises would engage in physical fights to obtain or defend territory, which often involves ramming each other and flipping opponents onto their back, the zoo said.
Photo courtesy of the Taipei Zoo
The zoo said its tortoises tend to fight during warm season from May to July.
However, the photo was taken this month, and the fight occurred probably because temperatures were above normal and the zoo adopted heat lamps to help animals keep warm, it said.
Such warmth might have tricked the tortoises into believing that the warm season begins and triggered fights over territory, it said.
While fighting, sulcata tortoises would pull their head into their shell, and push their four legs off the ground to hit and ram their opponent with their lower shell, it said.
They would not stop when their opponent is overturned, so one could often see a tortoise continuing to attack its overturned opponent, it said.
Some misunderstand the attacking tortoise’s intent as being helpful while it is actually aggression, it added.
The tortoise getting the upper hand in the photograph also targeted the zookeeper, perhaps because it regarded them to be on the opponent’s side, the zoo said.
The tortoise could also be targeting the zookeeper simply because they were on its way, the zoo said.
That is why the zookeeper pulled it away from its defeated opponent, to divert its attention, the zoo said.
It said it has placed floating balls at sulcata tortoises’ outdoor playground, adding that they are expected to distract tortoises’ attention from chasing their peers.
Zookeepers observe whether tortoises are wounded while mediating their fights, it added.
They would also occasionally monitor tortoises’ body weight, the zoo said, adding that they would not interfere with tortoises’ life as long as no health issues occur due to fierce fights.
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