I never knew tortoises could survive broken shells. This is not the best photograph but it was the best I could manage as I was running around the nursery. So apparently the story goes that this tortoise was picked up by an eagle one day and was not dropped from a high enough height (as the eagle should have) so the shell was cracked but not enough for the eagle to feast. Who knows why the eagle didn’t go for a second round, point is this tortoise is now resident at Good Hope Gardens, cracked shell and all, survived for a few years just as it is.
Cracked-shell Chersina angulata
Turns out crows also do this, especially the white-necked raven. As Mark D. Anderson explains, “[they] regard padlopers as a delicacy”. Of course there are many animals that prey on tortoise but not many birds who pick them up and drop them at height. Tactics.
