Tortoise behavior in groups

PSLIMO

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Hey Guy's,

I thought I'd post a link to what I found to be very interesting on a zoo's radiated tortoises as they behave in a group. It echoes some advise given here.

It's from the series secret lives of the zoo. When one of the males is separated from the group for bullying another male. The females still seek the dominate male to mate. Lots going on with tortoises to insure the dominant gene's are past down.

Hope you find it interesting.

 

ZEROPILOT

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Hey Guy's,

I thought I'd post a link to what I found to be very interesting on a zoo's radiated tortoises as they behave in a group. It echoes some advise given here.

It's from the series secret lives of the zoo. When one of the males is separated from the group for bullying another male. The females still seek the dominate male to mate. Lots going on with tortoises to insure the dominant gene's are past down.

Hope you find it interesting.

It makes perfect sense that nature would want the strongest, healthiest to prosper and reproduce.
In captivity its US that decides which tortoise.....If any.....get to mate.
Nice article. And interestingly informative.
 

PSLIMO

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What I really found interesting is that the females seemed to know that and went to the dominant male when he couldn't get to them.
 

MichaelL

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Hey Guy's,

I thought I'd post a link to what I found to be very interesting on a zoo's radiated tortoises as they behave in a group. It echoes some advise given here.

It's from the series secret lives of the zoo. When one of the males is separated from the group for bullying another male. The females still seek the dominate male to mate. Lots going on with tortoises to insure the dominant gene's are past down.

Hope you find it interesting.

Wow, fascinating. Just watched the whole thing. Crazy how they prefer the dominant male, but makes sense.
 

ZenHerper

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The hierarchical opinion that animals are "simple" is hopefully, finally, albeit kicking and screaming, passing into oblivion.

Each species has its own ways of signaling fitness. Size (and the ability to supress someone else's size), ability to choose and defend a lush territory, strength to inflict and survive wounds, length of life, blah, blah: all ways that a male tort signals his well-rounded genetic resume.

For females - who invest the greater percentage of resources into their offspring - the fitness of male prospects is of primary importance. If they can still smell the fittest male near the territory, why commit their bodily resources to a clutch with someone having less potential to contribute health and reproductive success into subsequent generations?
 

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