Are the big ones able to turn over alone?

[Jemo]

last year our 100 kg young and inexperienced male started his first mating attempts with the same sized female.
She was not very impressed about that!

one time we found her just stepping backwards while he was doing a mating attempt, and the male was falling onto his backside



He was really looking very unhappy!
I did not want to wait and see. We helped him to turn over, but I am wondering if he would has been able to do it alone?

 

[wellington]

Wow, good pic. He didn't look too concern, but did seem to be looking at you, like, hey, little help here. ALDABRAMAN will be the one that would probably know best. He has a large herd of them. Hopefully he will be on here soon. If my memory is correct though, it does seem he had said before that he, with help, had to upright his before. I just can't imagine them being able to do it themselves. Will be interesting to see what he says.

 

[tortoise5643]

I know that my full grown redfoot can as he always falls over and has to. I know thats not nearly as big as an Aldabra but just thought it might help....

 

[Jemo]

The funny thing when he was laying on his backside,
he was not moving at all.

Seemed to be totally astonished about the situation.

Well, I am a tropical biologist and to my knowledge and logical understanding every tortoise should be able to turn round to survive.
It would be not logical to live and grow, lets say 100 years, and than have a little accident and die.

At the other hand I learned that nature is not always logical in our sense!

Thats why I try to get some more Information in excange with experienced keepers and put the question here

 

[wellington]

Yes, Mother Nature is made in a way to keep numbers at a manageable rate. Some ways of doing this seems cruel to us, but is the way it's done naturally. I just can't imagine, with the big rounded shells they have, an the short legs, compared to the shell, that unless there was a rock, tree, stump, something other then just ground that they could do it. A RF, different build all together, more understandable that they could right themselves easier.

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

wondering if he would has been able to do it alone?

* Same as any species, if he can get leverage, he should be able to right himself. However, if he is totally compromised and no leverage, he will eventually die. Especially in direct heat! This is of real concern for us and we make several visual checks daily for possible flipped tortoises. We have noticed that males are more prone to getting flipped than females and it usually a result of combat, climbing, or a failed mating attempt. One precaution we do is avoid any square corners or obstacles that might be of any issue if they try to climb up or over. We also have solid inner containment walls, no gaps or spaces between the boards. Basically our efforts are directed towards keeping them flat to minimize any unbalanced possibilities.

 

[monsteraldabra]

emm u got flipped? save your self said other male.. LOL