Radiated size

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Yvonne G

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Boy was I ever wrong when I mentioned on another thread that the forum member's radiated tortoise wouldn't get too big. I said the ones at our zoo are only slightly larger than a football, which is true, however, I was just looking around the internet at tortoise pictures and I found this one:

tortoise.jpg


That radiated tortoise is quite a bit bigger than a football. Sorry for the misinformation before.

Here's the story behind the picture:

About a year after his handlers at Roger Williams Park Zoo noticed he had a bum left front leg, the 21-year-old year-old radiated tortoise has finished his rounds of physical therapy and is back munching on plants and scoping out the females in his pen.
The endangered tortoise from the African island of Madagascar had suffered tissue damage and spent a year getting around on a makeshift skateboard that allowed him to exercise without putting too much pressure on the injured limb.
After confirming the injury during tests at Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine in Grafton, Mass., caretakers cobbled together an oval-shaped roller.
Tipsy showed admiring onlookers Thursday just how well he could scoot around on his mini skateboard. He bounced off walls, crashed into a door, walked over shoes and wiggled between legs.
"He seemed to really enjoy (the therapy) from the beginning," Dr. Janet Martin, director of veterinary services at the zoo. "He really got the hang of it."
Tipsy's ailment was the first such injury veterinarians grappled with in the decades the zoo has housed tortoises.
 

egyptiandan

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The record for Radiateds is 17 3/4 inches SCL. The average is 13 to 15 inches, so a pretty big tortoise. They are also heavy for their size as they are very domed. :D

Danny
 

TortieLuver

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Wow! I didn't think they ever got that big? What is the average adult size of one? I thought basketball size?
 

Stephanie Logan

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I wonder if they all lose the detailed differentiation in their color patterns as they age?

What a great story and a happy ending for Tipsy! :D
 
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