The Hindu : Front Page : `Sensible' diet saves tortoise

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Sep 11, 2005

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`Sensible' diet saves tortoise

Vani Doraisamy

LEAN AND FIT: A small diet change put this tortoise on his feet. — Photo: S.R.Raghunathan

CHENNAI: You thought a low-calorie, high-fibre vegetarian diet was good only for humans? Not so say a team of veterinarians who nursed a celebrity patient back to health in Chennai Snake Park, by making him eat sensibly.

The 80-year-old, 160-kg giant male Aldabra tortoise, developed appetite loss and immobility in May. Since he was a unique patient — the species, Geochelone gigantea is a rarity — Dr. Lakshmanan, the park's veterinarian, Dr. J. Thangaraj of the Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University and Dr. Senthil Kumar of Arignar Anna Zoological Park consulted copious literature and even went online before diagnosing it as pneumonia and arthritis.

According to Dr. Kalaiarasan, park director, the veterinarians decided to go in for a diet change rather than medication. The tortoise was on a high-calcium, high-protein diet that distressed his digestive system.

On Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays he consumed three kg of apples, guavas, papayas, green leaves, ladies fingers, carrots, cucumbers, cabbages, tomatoes and cow peas.

On Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays, a dozen bananas and two boiled eggs. Tuesday was no-feed day.

The new menu did away with the cabbages, tomatoes, bananas and eggs and seeds from apples. Feed was only on alternate days to enable the digestive system to recover. Three months later, the tortoise is cured and energetic than before, Dr. Kalaiarasan says.

The Aldabra was donated by the Seychelles Government in 1979 and has been the park's star attraction.

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