'Totally Surprising and Rather Horrifying': Giant Tortoises Eat Baby Birds

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Researchers filmed a giant tortoise hunting and devouring a tern chick in a single gulp.

It may be time to retire the phrase “gentle giant.”

There had been rumors of tortoises stalking seabird chicks, which become helpless after they have fallen out of their nests. But until the video was captured — revealing a scene that is a bit like P.D. Eastman’s “Are You My Mother?” if it had instead been written by Roald Dahl — Gerlach presumed any such observation was a misunderstanding at best.

“It’s quite a mystery that they have uncovered here,” said James Gibbs, a herpetologist at the State University of New York and the Galápagos Conservancy who was not involved in the research.When Gibbs watched the video, he was surprised at how slowly and awkwardly the attack unfolds.Gibbs has studied the giant tortoises for about 30 years in the Galápagos, where he said tortoises have developed a curious relationship with birds.

For instance, when tortoises eat leaves, grass or fruit, they extend their tongues and draw the food into their mouths. But the tortoise in the video has its tongue retracted and its eyes closed — signs that it’s wary of a certain amount of danger with this food source.

 

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