Romantic reptile comes a cropper
THIS tortoise gets a little carried away in a moment of passion and
ends up flat on his back.
A crowd had gathered to watch the African spurred Tortoise as he got down to
business with a female pal.
But as they looked on, the wrinkled lothario let out a cry of satisfaction
before losing its balance in all the excitement.
And having tumbled to the ground, the reptile romeo was unable to get back on
his feet.
The prone playboy lay on his back for ten minutes before he was righted by a
keeper at the Kyiv Zoo in Ukraine.
Fortunately, photographer Vadym Shevchenko, 34, was on hand to witness the
romping reptile.
He explained: “I think I was really lucky to see the mating process. When
the male tortoise finished it fell off onto its back.
“I decided to wait and see what would happen next. Would he be able to to
turn around or not?
“For some time the male was totally still without any movement.
“He even stopped chewing the leaves which he was chewing all the time
they were mating.
“I stayed for another ten minutes and the male tortoise was still on his
back trying to turn around though without any success. I think zoo
workers helped him in the end.
“During the mating process there were almost no sounds. Just some quiet
sound of chewing. But right before the falling on his back he produced a
very loud sound of satisfaction.
“The beginning of it falling off was so slow that it was like watching a
falling tree.
“All the spectators were amazed by the sound and falling down and were
talking and joking about it for some time. After the male turtle fall on his
back – there was a totally quiet pause.
“And then the crowd burst into applause.”
