21 March 2008

Who said tortoises were slow?


I came across this angulate tortoise crossing the road, behind the airport when doing a recce for photographic possibilities in the area. Don't let anyone tell you tortoises are slow. I had a difficult time keeping up with this one, before it disappeared in the grass. A combination of its speed and poor light meant the pictures were not that great. Note the blurred back leg.

11 comments:

Katney said...

One year when I was teaching first grade my students did individual or partner science projects while the big kids were having their science fair.

Two little girls chose to explore the question: Why are turtles slow? They did their encyclopedia research and wrote their first grade report, including facts and their hypothesis about why turtles are slow.

They then brought a demostration--Q's brother's pet turtle to watch how slow it moved. We sat in a circle on the classroom floor and Q set the turtle down in the center.

And the turtle took off across the room like a bat out of he**.

Max-e said...

Katney I rest my case :)

myonlyphoto said...

No body said that, lol. We had once turtle as a pet, and he run away from home once, but local kids found him. But to let you know he was quite a runner, lol. Thanks for sharing, this is really cool turtle photo. Anna :)

MedaM said...

I haven’t seen any turtle since my childhood but what I remember is that turtles always used to hide themselves in their armours when ever we children approached to them. This is beautiful photo which brings back some beautiful memories from my childhood.:-)

sonia a. mascaro said...

What a huge tortoise, Max! Love seeing this photo!

Tom said...

Great to see one of these where it should be and not in a back garden shed in England.. they really are stunning things Max.

Just to let you know.. tonight before I log off I will post my Sunday set of pictures. You might want to pop over and see how the old land rover cope on some of the lanes we use.. oh and how I crossed the river in Bakewell Derbyshire.

All the best to you and Suzi for Easter
Tom

Bob Johnson said...

Wow, great pic, who would have thought you get a good action shot from a tortoise, look at that leg go,lol.

singleton said...

Uh, yeah, he's bookin' it! Amazing shot!

Kerri Farley said...

Oh I love these guys! I usually think of them as shy, too...hardly ever get a shot with their head out of their shell....this one must have been on a mission....I wonder if Mrs. Tortoise was waiting for thim in the grass.....

Rune Eide said...

I wonder what Achilles would have said...

Max-e said...

Hi all thanks for the comments. I wont respond individually today, as I am playing catchup.

This was one on the little guys. You want to see the mountain tortoises, they get quite big.

And Kerri, this could have been Mrs Tortoise running from Mr Tortoise :)