Researchers recently reported the first documented evidence of a tortoise that goes for the kill, specifically biting the head of, killing, and eating a baby bird.
A Phys.org report specified, this is the first time such a behavior has been caught on camera, and it is possibly not the only case of an occurrence of tortoise bird slaughter.
According to Biology Studies Justin Gerlach, he could not believe what he was seeing. This corresponding author added, it was "horrifying and at the same time, amazing."
A video, recorded in the woodlands on Frégate Island in Seychelles, an archipelago off the coast of East Africa in the Indian Ocean, shows an adult female tortoise making a direct beeline at a usual walking pace headed for its target, a tern chick that got stuck on a log.
Caught on Camera
Describing what was captured on camera, Gerlach said, the tortoise looked directly at the bird and tenaciously walked toward it. This, he added, was extremely strange and was entirely different from usual tortoise behavior.
In the video, the tortoise is seen slow and steady as he stalks closer. When it gets within its biting distance, it is observed to be reaching out with its mouth open.
For the chick's part, it's seen trying to defend itself by pecking at its predator, although its efforts are useless. Once the chick gets to the end of the log, with no other place to go, the tortoise crashes its haws directly on the chick's head.
The chick falls from the log, and the tortoise then climbs down and swallows it all. This whole process, as seen in the video, takes less than 10 minutes.
An Aggressive Tortoise Behavior
Even though people frequently link the speed of a tortoise, or lack of it, with mere and benevolent herbivorous habits, this is not the first report of these reptiles eating meat or animal parts rich in calcium like shells or bones in the wild.
However, according to Gerlach, it has been previously impossible to determine if the tortoise had killed the animal directly or if it had just happened to find one and have it squashed dead conveniently.
The video, captured by the island's deputy conservation and sustainability manager, Anna Zora, provides some of the first definitive proofs of a slow and careful, planned attack.
Additionally, the tortoise in the video seemed to be experienced when catching chicks on logs. Terns are birds that nest in trees.
A Not-So Usual Tortoise Diet
Even though this is not the first time a tortoise is seen consuming an animal, it is not a usual diet for the said reptile. The natural diet of tortoises tends to be centered around weeds and flowers. The environment they came from is reliant on their would-be natural diet.
According to Nature Discovery, essentially, tortoises from dry climates predominantly consume stems and leaves of desert grasses and flowers. Species following this particular diet are the Horsfield tortoise; Hermann's tortoise, as described in The Spruce Pets site; Indian Star tortoises; Leopard tortoise and African Sulcata.
Tortoises naturally living in forested sites need higher amounts of fresh fruit in their diets. These are species like the red-footed tortoise, yellow-footed tortoise, and elongated tortoises. They predominantly eat fleshy succulents, grasses, and legumes.
In general, tortoises are mostly herbivores. Some species are occasionally known to eat insects or worms in the wild. It is seldom essential to supplement a tortoise's diet with animal proteins since they're getting sufficient nutrition from various vegetation.
In relation to the recently-videoed tortoise, the researchers' report, as mentioned earlier, was published in the Current Biology journal.
The bird-killing and -eating tortoise is shown on Cell Press's YouTube video below:
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