Tortoise couple break up...after 115 years

[8bitagent]

Man I feel ashamed for my longest 'relationship' having only been maybe 5-6 months. A tortoise couple that were together/friends for 115 years have recently grown apart. According to wildlife historians, tortoises can sometimes live to be almost 200 years old. The longest known tortoise lived from the declaration of independence til the Beatles Help! album was released

http://news.discovery.com/animals/torto ... 20611.html
http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2 ... uple-quits
http://www.npr.org/2012/06/11/154738954 ... -115-years
http://video.msnbc.msn.com/msnbc.com/47842496/#47842496

After 115 years of partnership, two tortoises from the Reptilien Zoo Happ in Austria can no longer stand each other and are now living in separate enclosures, according to an Austrian Times report.

The fallout between the two tortoises, Bibi and Poldi, ends what was the world's oldest known animal "marriage."

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As the zoo's director Helga Happ told the Austrian Times, "We get the feeling they can't stand the sight of each other anymore."

Signs of the breakup were not hard to detect. Bibi, seemingly tired of Poldi's attentions, hauled off and bit his shell one day. She later attacked him again, forcing the puzzled staff to move him to a separate enclosure.
birds
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The good news is that they did not decide to kill each other. Tortoises don't have teeth, but they do possess a horn-rimmed mouth and extremely powerful jaws. They could have easily done each other in. The zoo staff did not want to wait around for that to possibly happen.

Happ said, "They are both 115 years old -- they have been together since they were young and grew up together, eventually becoming a pair. But for no reason that anyone can discover they seem to have fallen out, they just can't stand each other."

She and other zoo staff are trying everything to save the marriage. They have given the pair "counseling," "romantic good food," and have tried to get the tortoises interested in "joint games," but all to no avail so far.

Bibi appears to be enjoying her new life as a single tortoise gal.

She and Poldi first met at the Basel Zoo in Switzerland. They were then moved together to the Austrian zoo in Klagenfurt, where they were together for 36 years. Their routine hasn't changed much over the years.


Tortoises have been known to live for 150 years or more, so hope prevails that the couple will somehow patch things up.

Happ said, "We have staff talking to and trying to engage the two in interacting, and we hope that they might find their harmony again. We were told that it's very rare that after so many years animals who are a pair will fall apart, but that's where we are. We hope though we can bring round a reconciliation."

So many interesting parables to humans. Ya look at all those celebrity or just young couples in general, they can't stand eachother after a few months. I also wonder what it'd be like to be alive for so long. Imagine if a photo was taken of you from birth to the present. It'd be like one of those joke photos where someone digitally inserts themselves in 1880's, 1890s, turn of the century, 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, etc photographs as a joke.

[Burnt Hill]

"joint games" always worked for the wife and I.

[barracuda]

I blame the gays for destroying the sanctity of the institution of tortoise marriage.

[Simulist]

A tortoise couple that were together/friends for 115 years have recently grown apart. According to wildlife historians, tortoises can sometimes live to be almost 200 years old.

Mid-life crisis? If he starts trying to date tortoises that are half his age (say, 60 years old or so), and sporting a brand new, shiny red shell we'll know for sure.

[arikara]

It is kind of sad though I suppose in the wild they would just go their separate ways if they got sick of each other. In a zoo they are stuck together like it or not. Animals do have feelings even though many people don't believe it. I remember a couple of dogs who started feuding for no reason that we could see. Our female doberman, who was a nervous rather cowardly bit of a runt and the neighbor's dog who was also a medium sized mild tempered female with only 3 legs. They got into a vicious snarling biting fight with each other for no apparent reason and hated each other from that day on. It was very bizarre because they had been best of buddies and inseparable until then.

[barracuda]

There are things that get said sometimes that just won't be forgotten and just can't be taken back.

[Burnt Hill]

Well when was the last time they had sex?
Seriously. I suspect its been a long time.
They should have got counseling before the break up.

[Project Willow]

I just want to learn how to dance before I die.

[peartreed]

A tortoise will carry the torch of a torrid affair only until the attraction deteriorates into torpor and becomes torpid over interminable time, the cohort turns turtle in torrential tension, and the torture of the still-entwined tormentors tests the torsion and torque tolerance of their two tandem tortoiseshells.

Separation after a century is still a shell shock, and may take some adjustment, but each at least still keeps its shelter.

We could all be tutored by the troubled turtles and, in turn, take our time in terminating our more relentlessly reptilian relationships.

[norton ash]

The turtles seem happy together.



But Mr. Tortoise sounds sick and tired.

[crikkett]

Two caged creatures, male and female specimens, caged together their entire lives, were at one point a couple and now are not.

I'm reminded of Vonnegut, or VC Andrews. Both wrote about caged creatures under observation...

[Burnt Hill]

And you crikkett, have reminded me of Maya Angelou, my daughters namesake.

[crikkett]

Thanks Burnt Hill! Yes, Maya Angelou. I saw her speak and she changed my life.

A tortoise will carry the torch of a torrid affair

That was fantastic!
Everyone read it again.