Injured turtle gets a second chance on four wheels
Popular Science...
Installing wheels on a tortoise might seem like a cruel joke—but a veterinary practice in the Philippines recently did so to help out an Aldabra giant tortoise (Aldabrachelys gigantea) with troubled hind legs.
As the name suggests, Aldabra giant tortoises are among the largest land tortoises. Also referred to as the Aldabra tortoise or giant tortoise, this reptile can weigh up to 550 pounds and can live over 150 years. Interestingly, Charles Darwin, among others, worked to protect the species.
The tortoise in question lived at a private zoo, but its legs weren’t working properly. The zoo referred the case to Nielsen Donato, chief surgeon at Vets in Practice, a vet practice with seven locations in metro Manila. Donato and his team did X-rays on their large patient, but didn’t detect dislocations or fractures.
“Mostly we think it could be weakness of the hind legs, could be neurological in origin,” Donato tells Popular Science. “Probably there were other companions, which sometimes when they try to hump on each other or mount on each other, this can cause trauma to the hind legs, and it took a while for it to recover.” The mounting can represent either playful or mating behavior.
The team started treating the issue with anti-inflammatory laser therapy, but then also did something that might be surprsing—they installed four wheels on its plastron, the part of the shell beneath tortoises and turtles. A social media video features the tortoise looking rather bewildered as Donato installs its bright orange wheels on its underside.
“We measured the height. Initially, it looked like it was too tall, but we wanted to put less pressure on the legs, and this would also allow it to have a better range of motion when it’s trying to walk,” Donato explains. As soon as they put the tortoise with its newly acquired rolling powers back on the ground, “it showed some improvements with its mobility, and we sent it home.”
After some time the wheels were removed and the tortoise went back to walking normally.
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