Tortoises

An article in the Times today talks about "Lonesome George," the last of a species of tortoises. I am personally quite fond of turtles and tortoises. In college, I had a pet turtle. My aunt had two tortoises that grew to the point where a 3-year old could have comfortably ridden on them (maybe). However, for all this, I don't think I ever grew this fond of tortoises. Read on:

"A few years later, in 1993, there was briefly a companion known as “Lonesome George’s girlfriend,” but she was not a tortoise. She was a 26-year-old graduate student in zoology from Switzerland named Sveva Grigioni.

By coating her hands in the genital secretions of female tortoises and gently stroking him, she managed to demonstrate a couple of times (in the course of several months’ work) that George was capable of an erection. But whereas her touch could induce other male tortoises to reach orgasm within a few minutes, with George she never managed to collect any sperm."

Did you even know that female tortoises had secretions?

1 comments:

  1. Anonymous said...

    whoa.

    also, 10 points if you created that graphic with the tortoise and the broken heart :)  


 

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