the-upside-down-tortoise-enigma

Depending on your point of view, it is one of life’s great questions. How does a tortoise that has flipped onto its back, get up again? It’s not a rhetorical question, and it goes beyond being a metaphorical or metaphysical query, or a subject for drunken debate. For a tortoise it is a deadly serious matter; being able to right itself counts as one of life’s epic struggles, a potential matter of life and death. Now scientists have investigated this struggle in detail, determining if and how tortoises have evolved to do it.Dr Ana Golubović at the University of Belgrade, Serbia and colleagues studied the slow-motion thrashings of an inverted chelonian – in particular the Hermann's tortoise, to see how the shape of its shell impacts its ability to rise again. Armoured animals can easily lose their balance and fall on their back, where they are vulnerable to exposure, starvation and predation. Male tortoises actively attempt to flip rivals onto their backs Tortoises are particularly susceptible, being unable to flip themselves by twisting their bodies inside their shells.READ MORE LINK-http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150108-the-upside-down-tortoise-enigma