Collectanea de Diversis Rebus: Addresses and PapersEade, Peter, Sir
Science
Collectanea de Diversis Rebus: Addresses and Papers
Eade, Peter, Sir
English essays; Speeches, addresses, etc., English
I have little to add to what I previously said (and to what White has
said) as to Tortoise habits and manners. These appear to be very
uniform, and to be guided by a most definite instinct; and it is very
noticeable and very remarkable how the two Tortoises will constantly both
do the very same thing at the very same time, often almost at the same
moment of time. For example, when feeding, even when apart from each
other, they will constantly suddenly leave off eating almost at the same
instant; or they will in like manner, when basking in the sun, both at
once get up and walk off to some other place; or they will both all at
once suddenly get up and march off to their evening place of shelter and
rest—and this without any definite atmospheric or other cause that is
appreciable.
Cuvier has well called the Tortoise “_un animal retournèe_,” an animal
inverted, or “turned inside out, or rather outside in.” And it is said
that the large Land Tortoise, when withdrawn into its shell, “can defy
the whole animal world except man, from whom nothing is safe.” And with
reference to this point I have observed that our Tortoises, when retiring
to rest, always take the greatest care to protect their noses and the
anterior opening of their shells. When they burrow, their head is of
course covered up by the earth. But when, as is often the case in the
warmer weather, they simply go to sleep in some sheltered place, they
habitually place their heads close against the wall, or under the
projecting roots of a tree or shrub, so as not to leave this part
exposed. I presume, therefore, that they are conscious of some
insecurity, and it would certainly appear that their heads would
otherwise be open to the attack of rats or other predaceous animals.
Professor Forbes describes the peculiar way in which he has in Greece
observed the Tortoises to do their courting, _i.e._ the method by which
the male Tortoise seeks to attract the attention of his lady-love,
namely, by repeatedly knocking his shell violently against hers. I have
noticed the same process in my own garden. Both my animals are, I
believe, males. But I have observed one of them, when in an amorous
humour, to strike the other several times in succession a sounding blow
on its shell; and this he does by suddenly withdrawing his head into his
shell, so as to be out of harm’s way, and then as suddenly throwing his
body forward by a sort of butting process against the shell of his
fellow. This proceeding causes a very considerable, and indeed,
comparatively speaking, quite a loud and resounding noise; and at first
sight these sudden and severe blows would appear to be more calculated to
cause corporeal discomfort or injury than to excite affection. These
very marked attentions are usually followed by the utterance of a quick
and soft, or almost whining cry.
I will only add that my Tortoises show an increasing familiarity and
sense of being at home as years roll on.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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