SHELL SHOCK

Marriage: it isn’t easy, is it? Even the closest of relationships can hit hard times. Imagine, then, seeing the same wrinkly old face over the breakfast trough day in, day out, for more than one hundred and fifteen years. You’d be entitled to have the odd off day, surely?

But zookeepers in Austria are now increasingly worried that the world’s longest animal ‘marriage’ could be at an end – and they have no idea why.

Poldi and Bibi, two rare giant Galapagos tortoises, arrived in Klagenfurt am Wörthersee, capital of Carinthia, Austria’s most southerly province, back in 1976 from Basle Zoo, Switzerland. At that time zookeepers guessed they were already between 80 and 100 years old and had spent their whole lives together from just after they were born.

Owner Helga Happ, who took over Happ’s Reptilienzoo & Sauriergarten in 1986 and runs it with her family, says they were always the best of friends. ‘They were like an old married couple,’ she says. ‘We never saw any problems.’ They enjoyed a contented, uncomplicated life – sitting in the shade, sitting in the sun, eating, sleeping – and spent many a companionable hour next to each other, shells touching, gently snoozing.

They enjoyed a full marital relationship, too, though for some reason, no baby tortoises ever materialised. Then, last November, it all changed; love doesn’t live here any more.

‘We had no warning,’ says Helga. ‘One minute everything was OK, the next Bibi hissed loudly at Poldi, then took a big bite out of his shell. He was bleeding.’

There is soft tissue attached to the shell, so it must have hurt. The two were immediately separated and the vet called to treat the spurned and confused lover. The vet, a reptile specialist whose hobby is tortoises, had never heard of such a thing happening before.

An emergency brainstorming session was called with animal psychologists, biologists, zoologists trying to understand what could have gone wrong. But it’s still a mystery. Keepers tried to put them back together, but Bibi continued to hiss and go for Poldi. Now he too cannot bear to be in the same enclosure as his former love.

Keepers even resorted to a decoy tortoise for Poldi, to make Bibi jealous

‘For no reason that anyone can discover, they seem to have fallen out; they just can’t stand each other,’ says Helga. Various attempts at reconciling the couple have been made. The most elaborate was the introduction of a surrogate. An artist friend of Helga made a very visually realistic fake female tortoise out of a type of plastic. It was hoped that Poldi would think he had a nice new wife – and, indeed, he did show her a great deal of affection for a few days. Perhaps, the thinking was, Bibi would get jealous and, fearful of losing her ‘husband’, reform her shrewish be-haviour and make amends.

Sadly, Poldi eventually realised his amorous attentions were receiving an even less positive response than usual, and that his new young lover was not real. Bibi, always the couple’s brighter half, was not taken in for a moment. The stand-off continues. Zookeepers have been very gradually reintroducing the 100kg tortoises to each other over food, making eating together a positive experience.

‘They tolerate each other’s presence just as long as it’s not too cold, not too hot and there’s plenty of food,’ says Johannes Happ, paleobiologist and Helga’s son.

Before their tiff, the couple would often chat over dinner

Staff must watch them every second, though, to prevent a repeat of the love-bite incident. I wondered whether there was any advice I could offer the feuding duo.

At the zoo, Bolshy Bibi was already head down at the trough full of crunchy veggies, as Poldi was lured out of the safety of his enclosure with a large juicy tomato – it’s their favourite food. A truce seemed to have been called as they tucked into their lunches.

Johannes grew up with the tortoises – they’re part of the family, and he’s sad to see them like this. ‘Poldi is still much more sociable and loves to have his neck scratched,’ he says. He’s feeling lonesome without his mate. Indeed, he allows me this honour.

‘Bibi can be grumpy. She sometimes likes to be stroked, but you have to watch her body language,’ says Johannes. ‘If her back’s turned, she may be having a Greta Garbo “I want to be alone” moment.’

She snatches a big tomato from my hand, but otherwise refuses to give any clue to the source of her displeasure.

‘Their plight has made worldwide news, with dozens of emails arriving at the zoo suggesting what the problem may be,’ says Johannes.

‘One was convinced that Bibi had lost her sense of smell, and therefore didn’t recognise Poldi when he came close to her, so she rejected him. But she has no problem smelling tomatoes and other favourite foods, so that’s not it.’

The zoo knows that it’s unlikely to be anything environmental either, as Seychelles tortoises in the neighbouring pen are pairing up with no difficulty. There have even been a few offers of new girlfriends for Poldi, but exposing him to bacteria from other tortoises could prove dangerous.

‘Using artificial insemination to help Poldi become a dad could be a possibility, though,’ comments Johannes. Thegiant Galapagos tortoise (Chelonoidis nigra) is officially endangered, after all. The species can grow to a length of 1.8 metres, weigh a maximum of 400kg and live for up to 170 years in captivity.

During the second voyage of The Beagle in 1835, Charles Darwin’s observations of the differences in shell size and strength of those he saw on the Galapagos Islands, 1,000km west of mainland Ecuador, contributed to the development of his theory of evolution.

Meanwhile, the number of visitors to Happ’s Reptilienzoo, which houses snakes, lizards and spiders too, has increased as curious people flock to catch a glimpse of the estranged pair.

But there is hope that the couple will soon resolve their differences. The plan is to build a grille between their separate enclosures, through which they can see and smell each other, but not indulge in fisticuffs. Perhaps Bibi will eventually come out of her shell, forgive whatever misdemeanour Poldi has committed and the pair will be reunited.

‘We hope very much that we can find a way to bring them back together,’ said Helga. Watch this space…

Happ’s Reptilienzoo & Sauriergarten: www.reptilienzoo.at

For more information on Klagenfurt am Wörthersee: www.klagenfurt-tourismus.at/english