Tortoises use sight and have a good sense of sight to be fair but the also use scent from the cloaca to gather information about things like sex of a partner
he knows what he’s doing
Comment on This gay tortoise is older than the word “homosexual”
TeamAssimilation@infosec.pub 3 weeks ago
Dumb question: can his cataracts be fixed (a routine surgery on humans) so he can see his mate is a guy? As a bonus, he could see food morsels without the need of olfaction.
I also wonder if the loss of olfaction and sight mean he couldn’t recognize the sex of a partner even if it was right in front of him.
I understand he might really be a gay tortoise, but he could also be gay by necessity.
ragebutt@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
He can’t smell, either, but he’s been with that tortoise for over thirty years and snubs all the females around.
ShinkanTrain@lemmy.ml 3 weeks ago
Which is impressive cause tortoises are famously horny and will fuck anything
::: spoiler Image :::
andros_rex@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
ragebutt@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
They also use vibrations to sense partners but I don’t know if they can tell gender from that
Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 3 weeks ago
also like, the other tortoise is presumably not blind and anosmic, so it knows what’s going on and isn’t objecting.
or what do i know, maybe male tortoises become remarkably feminine with age?
SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Not covered by my previous comment:
Apparently doctors investigated cataract surgery several years ago, but deemed it too risky.
TeamAssimilation@infosec.pub 3 weeks ago
That’s sad, because it’s not like he could go blind from the surgery. He’s already blind. Most persons would risk the surgery if there was a chance to see again, I guess he would too if he could choose.
crater2150@feddit.org 3 weeks ago
If it is anything like other surgeries done at vets, the risky part with such an old animal is the sedation, not the surgery itself. And with animals you usually need to fully sedate them, as they don’t understand that they need to stay still.
princessnorah@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 weeks ago
This is always risky in older humans as well. My grandfather broke his wrist ~10 years ago from a fall. He was doing fine, they kept him for observation because he also hit his head, and he needed surgery to set his wrist. They put him under general anaesthetic, he vomited, aspirated and they broke 5 ribs reviving him. He was in ICU for a week. Still alive today though.
SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
He shares his space with a number of female tortoises.
He gay.