Tortoise presentation

[ErikaO]

Hi tortoise lovers, I am doing a class presentation tonite on "How to raise a Leopard Tortoise". I'm positive our little Kanzi is going to be a huge hit in class. Does anyone have any ideas for a great intro line; maybe some tortoise quote, or just a great attention getter? I will be graded on my preaentation, and while I have done a ton of public speaking before, I have never done so regarding tortoises.
Thanks for your help!

 

[Neal]

Very cool.

Do you have a speech outline you could share with us? I assume this is a college level course?

 

[ErikaO]

Yes, in a "nut shell" I will give a brief intro (hopefully with your help) then:
I. Preparation
A. Research
1. What is involved in raising an African Leopard Tortoise
a. Housing/space/temperatures
b. Diet
c. Substrate/surroundings
2. Counting the cost
a. Life span
b. Adult size
B. Set-up
1. Indoor
a. No hibernation
b. Dangers/prey
2. Outdoor
a. Natural sunlight
b. Bigger space/better grazing
II. Caring for the tortoise
A. Maintenance
1. Docile creatures
2. Handling
B. Feeding
1. Food prep
2. Water "rights"
C. Maintain health
1. What to watch for
2. Keeping safe
3. When the vet is needed

Thats it in a nut shell. I know there is so much more to cover than what I have, but I will be on a time crunch so I am trying to cover the basics. I would just like to open with something catchy or clever that would get the audience to see tortoises the way their owners do.

 

[Guggie]

I'd start like this.

"Hi, everyone. This is my cat Fluffy. <pause> I mean... "

Ok - it's lame. But it made me giggle.

 

[batchick]

You're right. You need a hook, a "so what" to grab your audience.
Maybe what a culture has symbolized through tortoises. I know stability is a big one,because they live so long. So, maybe riff on that. You want long term stability? You'd better know how to look after a tortoise... I was shown a bank in NYC recently that had a tortoise symbol holding up the bank's emblem because the tortoise symbolized longevity and stability. The bank clearly didnt follow the way of the tortoise as it crashed.

The secret to presentations? Believe what you saying and be enthusiastic. You love tortoises. That will come through and take the audience with you. Good luck.

 

[Neal]

My favorite quote is

"Behold the turtle, he makes progress only when he sticks his neck out" ~ James Bryant Conant

You might have to work that into your topic a bit, but hey it's a good quote.

 

[ErikaO]

I am super confident with public speaking as I do so for a living. I thought a quote might be nice, and I had the same quote already picked out. Another quote I thought I might be able to work in is "try to be like the turtle, at ease in your own shell" by Bill Copeland. I think that bringing a cultural symbolic element to the presentation is an awesome idea. I will be going to Kenya this coming June so I have a ton of info about their culture, perhaps I can find something about the tortoise to their people. That would actually be quite fitting since this is an African tortoise and her name is "Kanzi", which is African for treasure. Great ideas, thanks folks!

 

[batchick]

Cool. Around my way (south africa) there are some folk stories involving tortoises being sneaky - slow moving, but quick witted. The tortoise either tricks the other animals or gets tied up in his own trickery.
I've certainly found that with my tortoise. I spent half an hour searching for him in the garden today. And eventually found him less than a meter from his usual spot. Sneaky fellow

 

[Shelly]

Here you go

 

[Madkins007]

Some hooks I have used at one time or another:

1. Before showing the animal... "I have my pet with me, and one of the really cool things about it is that if you took my pet and locked it in a closet with your pet, my pet would be the one to walk out alive."

Show the tortoise... "Of course, it would do this by pulling into its shell and waiting for your pet to starve." Which lets you talk about defense, slow metabolism, natural predators, etc. nicely.

2. Discuss the role of tortoises in culture for a moment- Chinese: wisdom and longevity, and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_depictions_of_turtles_and_tortoises for more. Then wrap up with a slide of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and wrap with 'And in America, they eat pizza and live in sewers."

3. "Imagine, for a moment, that your ribcage did not move when you breathed. That you could only breathe by moving your shoulders and legs. That you smelled things not by inhaling, but by pumping air through your nose with your throat. That you could touch your elbows in front of your face with your arms pointing down instead of up.

"Imagine that you lived on the fringes, places where the food was too low in quality to have many competitors for it- which conversely makes you a prime treat for predators. You grew a heavy, awkward shell that demands a lot of resources from you to build and maintain, and it and hiding are your main means of defense.

"Imagine that everything around you is living fast and dying young, but that you go on for decades- even centuries. Imagine how all of this would affect your thinking, your behaviors, your life and you can being to imagine what it is like to be a tortoise."