(dramatic music)
- Tortoise. - All right, we'll go back.
- Turn around, turn around. (door slamming)
Watch out, look at you, look at you.
Oh, I see your little legs going there.
Let me give you some support.
(booming) (yowling)
(dramatic music)
No matter where the Brave Wilderness team and I
have traveled, we are always on the lookout for turtles.
In fact, I have caught or worked with a turtle
in every location we have visited aside from Alaska,
and that's only because there are no turtles in Alaska.
South Africa is not exactly the environment
where you would expect to find aquatic turtle species
and while they do have a few,
it's the land-dwelling tortoises
that are far more plentiful.
- L.B., tortoise, tortoise, tortoise, guys.
- All right, we'll go back. - Turn around, turn around.
- [Man] Did you really see a tortoise?
- At the side of the road, yeah.
- Hah! - Yeah.
- [Man] I'm just randomly filming a driving B-roll shot.
You saw a tortoise, what kind?
- Yeah, man, I think it might be a little leopard tortoise.
It's right there, see it?
- Oh, yeah, sweet, okay, well,
how 'bout that for getting a B-roll shot
and we have seen a little tiny leopard tortoise.
Look at you!
- Watch out - Look at you, look at you.
Buddy, this little guy is way too close to the road.
It's a leopard tortoise either just crossed
or is attempting to cross.
Let me set this camera right down there for you.
I see you, I see you.
I wanna be very, very gentle picking him up
because I do not want him to pee,
which is a defensive mechanism of these tortoises.
There we go. (upbeat music)
Look at you, oh, he's very warm,
out here soaking up heat from the side of the road
and also the sun.
You can seee there's cars zinging by.
It's a very dangerous place for a tortoise.
Where do they get the name leopard tortoise?
Just look at the design of the carapace,
looks just like the fur of a leopard.
Now this is the, actually, believe it or not,
the largest tortoise species here in South Africa.
This one is considered tiny,
they can weigh as much as 80 pounds.
These are giants, look at that domed carapace.
Oh, I know, you're scared, buddy, little stumpy legs,
and a very cute face if it decides to show us its face.
That's so cool, our first, official tortoise of the trip.
Wow, actually pretty heavy, it's a very, very dense animal.
They get all of their moisture from the food that they eat,
and they're out here feasting on, oh, you gonna come for us?
He's thinking about it.
They eat grasses, leaves, succulents,
and occasionally will even take insects
and other small, little animals
if the opportunity presents itself.
Actually, leopard tortoises love to eat hyena poop.
That hyena poop is high in calcium,
which helps keeps these tortoises' shells
and their platelets strong.
You notice when it tucks into its shell,
it has armored front legs, you see that?
All of these legs are covered with very dense scales,
and that keeps them protected.
Now they don't have many predators,
but a tortoise of this size could be eaten
by something like a hyena.
Their jaws are strong enough to crush through the shell,
but once this turtle reaches its adult stage,
the only threat that it has is humans,
and this roadway is a perfect example.
Many tortoises are unfortunately struck by cars,
and while they are rather speedy for a species,
not faster than a car, so what we're gonna do is
just safely move this little tortoise
off into the underbrush here in the exact same direction
that it was traveling and hopefully in the future
it will avoid crossing roadways.
There you go, now you're coming out of your shell for us.
How cute are you?
That is so cool.
There's one thing I love about the leopard tortoise,
look at these sharp keels at the back, and
you'll notice how it branches down over those hind legs,
just another defense mechanism
against any potential predator.
They have an unhinged shell.
You may be thinking to yourself,
"Oh, it kind of looks like a box turtle."
Let me tip it up for you there, see the plastron,
not hinged at all but slightly curves up
which allows for the legs to perfectly tuck in,
covered in dense scales, and they pull those legs in
to block the face just like that, you see that?
Now nothing can get to it,
even me sticking my hand in there.
What he doesn't want to do is try to bite.
If you bite something, then your head gets extended out
and you stand the chance of being eaten.
So it's all about tucking into your shell.
As we know, turtles and tortoises,
throughout the course of their life, grow with the shell.
Sometimes people think,
"Well, do turtles hop from shell to shell?"
No, they do not.
Well, other than the gopher tortoise
and the Galapagos tortoise,
this is only the third tortoise species
that we have featured on the Brave Wilderness Channel,
and as we learned from the Galapagos tortoise episode,
technically all tortoises are turtles.
Oh, I see your little legs going there,
let me give you some support. (car engine roaring)
Whoo, that car was going fast!
That'll get your heart racing.
- [Man] Made me nervous.
What were you doing out here, bud?
- Little tortoise, you know
that it's not safe to cross the road, right?
Well, how 'bout that?
No matter what location we visit, I always manage
to get a turtle in front of the cameras.
I'm Coyote Peterson, be brave, stay wild.
We'll see you on the next adventure.
All right, buddy, here you go, over into the underbrush.
The leopard tortoise is one
of South Africa's most iconic reptiles,
yet their existence is constantly at threat
due to the presence of man-made structures such as roads.
Sadly, many of these beautiful animals lose their lives
to car-strike every year,
and it's not just the roads in South Africa
but roadway systems around the world.
If you see one of our hard-shelled friends
crossing the road and choose to be a good turtle Samaritan
by helping it quickly cross,
your kindness may ensure that a teeny-tiny turtle
grows up to be a wise old elder of the reptile kingdom.
If you want to learn more about helping turtles
cross the road, make sure to go back
and watch the episode of Dragon Tails
where I show you the safe way to move a snapping turtle
without losing your fingers,
and don't forget, subscribe so you can join me and the crew
on our next location.
Say you look this way and you see a swamp
or a pond or a lake and you think to yourself,
"Well, there's water over there,
"shouldn't I put the turtle back in the water?"
The turtle knows exactly what it's doing.
It has made the decision to go this way
because it's likely a female headed to lay her eggs.
(animals calling) (birds singing)