Adult female No. 26 is on a walk, foraging on dried annuals on a warm spring day. | |
A young and rapidly growing male, No. 32 is a subordinate male and has never been observed to win an aggressive encounter with another male. His gular horn, an important weapon for battering an opponent during combat, was damaged by a predator and is unlikely to ever be useful in overturning a larger opponent or even a same-sized tortoise during a fight. Nevertheless, he is successful at courtship. Female No. 26 appears to prefer him over the local alpha male, No. 29. | |
Female 52 (with radiotransmitter) was found resting under a rock ledge at the edge of her home range with an unmarked, very large male tortoise. Face to face, the two had probably been courting earlier in the day. Female tortoises are polyandrous and can produce clutches of eggs with multiple paternities. They can also store sperm for more than one year. |
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