Apparently, when it comes to finding a life-long partner, even animals can get it wrong.
Bibi and Poldi, the world’s oldest “married” giant tortoises, have “divorced” after 115 years together, and are now living in separate enclosures at the Reptilien Zoo Happ in Austria.
“We get the feeling they can’t stand the sight of each other anymore,” the zoo’s director Helga Happ told the Austrian Times.
The first sign of a marriage breakdown came when Bibi attacked Poldi by hauling off a piece of his shell, followed by another unprovoked attack.
“They are both 115 years old – they have been together since they were young and grew up together, eventually becoming a pair. But for no reason that anyone can discover they seem to have fallen out, they just can’t stand each other,” Happ said.
Zoo staff said Poldi was lucky to escape with some minor injuries, as the attack could have been a lot worse.
Although tortoises don’t have teeth, they do have a horn-rimmed mouth and very powerful jaws, meaning the pair could easily have killed each other. Luckily, zoo staff acted quickly to separate them.
Despite the pair’s new found hatred for each other, Happ and other zoo staff are staying romantically optimistic, offering the pair “counselling” and “romantic good food”, while also trying to get them to play “joint games”. So far, none has worked and it seems that after 115 plus years together, they are enjoying some time apart.
“We have staff talking to and trying to engage the two in interacting, and we hope that they might find their harmony again,” Happ said.
“We were told that it’s very rare that after so many years, animals who are a pair will fall apart, but that’s where we are. We hope … we can bring round reconciliation.”
Giant tortoises are known to live over 150 years, so let’s hope the pair can patch things up soon.
