You lookin at me?

Radiated Tortoise - Astrochelys radiata

Helped vet A. with a plastron bandage change on one of our radiated tortoises this afternoon, he was making such sad, pitiful noises - anyone would have thought we were torturing him slowly! I guess in his mind we kind of were....
This boy in the neighbouring enclosure didn't look particularly thrilled about the hole ordeal either!

This tortoise species is native to and most abundant in southern Madagascar, it can be also be found in the rest of this island, and has been introduced to the islands of Réunion and Mauritius. The carapace of the radiated tortoise is brilliantly marked with yellow lines radiating from the center of each dark plate of the shell, hence its name. As they are herbivores, grazing constitutes 80-90% of their diets, while they also eat fruits and succulent plants. Radiated tortoises are endangered, mainly because of the destruction of their habitat by humans and because of poaching. They grow up to 41cm in length and can weigh up to 16kg. The oldest radiated tortoise ever recorded lived to an estimated age of 188!

And just because I was doing a little bit of research... here is is straight from Mr. Wikipedia.....

The male begins this fairly noisy procedure by bobbing his head and smelling the female's hind legs and cloaca. In some cases, the male may lift the female up with the front edge of his shell to keep her from moving away.
The male then proceeds to mount the female from the rear while striking the anal region of his plastron against the female’s carapace. Hissing and grunting by the male during mating is common. This is a very dangerous procedure and cases have been recorded where the female's shell has cracked and pierced the vaginal and anal cavities.

YIKES!!! Being a female radiated tortoise comes with some serious risks!