While we were in Hawaii, muh wife and I decided to kill a couple of hours by visiting the Honolulu Zoo which was really close to our hotel. We essentially had three hours to kill before we had to get to the airport and the zoo, we figured, could take care of one of those hours.
The Honolulu Zoo is a good enough zoo - especially for the whopping price of $6 per person. At that price, our expectations immediately dropped. We didn't think we were going to see any good animals at all.
It turns out that we DID get to see some fun animals like tigers and a cheetah and some hippopotamuseseses. We even got to see a really cool looking black rhino. Very cool...
The best part of the whole afternoon was when we got to the Galapagos Turtle section. As we walked up to the section, we noticed a turtle trying to climb up onto a rock. The turtle was a good 6 feet in diameter and a lumbering sort of fellow. Muh wife and I heard at the same time a VERY loud and effort filled grunt come from the turtle as it looked like he was trying to climb the rock. It was a very disturbing grunt.
We coouldn't stop staring at the turtle as he tried to climb higher and higher on the rock and with each burst of energy, he would release a very loud grunt. It began to make us both very sad and worried for the bugger. We even discussed getting a proper park ranger to assist the turtle as he appeared to be stuck.
We walked around the cage to see if he was stuck/pinned from behind as he appeared to be. As we got around the cage, he gave one of his loudest grunts yet, causing us to flinch and become officialy worried.
Our fears were remedied as soon as our eyes cleared the tall bushes that had been blocking the rocks. The grunts were actually being caused by thrusts and the rock was not actually a rock -- but another turtle.
This turtle seemed to finish up as we got to that point and started to climb off the female turtle.
Turtles banging is quite a sight to see.
Thanks for the emotional rollercoaster Mr. Galapagos Turtle. I really appreciated it.
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This was truly one of the most memorable pieces of our trip!
I clicked on that handy link you provided and read a little bit more about the turtles' mating rituals; I'm sorry we missed the initial courting, which "begins with ramming her with the front of his shell and nipping her exposed legs until she draws them in, immobilizing herself."
I think I might have been REALLY alarmed to stumble upon that. --YH
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