Can Upside Down Tortoises Turn Over? (Pictures and Video)

We all know that tortoises are not the most agile or mobile, but there can come a time in the life of a tortoise when agility and mobility can save its life. That time is when they are turned upside down.

An upside-down tortoise can turn itself over, but that is now always the case. The success rate is determined by multiple factors like shell shape, limbs length, age, and environment.

So in general an upside-down tortoise can turn itself over, but that is not the case for all of them. So let’s see how a tortoise turns itself over, how long it can stay upside down, and what happens if it spends too much time turned over.

How Tortoises Get Turned Upside Down

Pet tortoises usually end up upside down due to their clumsiness. Tortoises like to try and climb things, and while they are surprisingly good at this, they will sometimes fall over and they will usually end up on their backs.

Another common way pet tortoises end up turned over is due to other tortoises with which they had a fight. When they fight, tortoises can be quite mean to each other, and turning your opponent upside down is a common way to quickly end a fight.

In the wild, the most common way a tortoise gets turned over is due to a predator. When tortoises are attacked they retreat into their shells, where they will stay until the attacker leaves. And sometimes the predator will leave the tortoise alone, but it leaves it upside down.

And just like in the case of pet tortoises, in the wild, poor climbing skills and rivalries can leave a tortoise upside down.

How Upside Down Tortoises Can Turn Over

To turn over a tortoise will use its legs and head to move from side to side, and when they think that they reach a good position they will use their limbs and neck to try and turn themselves over.

Here is a video of a tortoise falling upside down and then turning itself over:

But in this video we only see one type of tortoise, there are over 100 tortoises species, and each one of them is different, some of them have longer necks, other species have a flatter shell, etc. So each tortoise will turn over differently, depending on its characteristics. So let’s take a quick look at what are some of the most important characteristics of a tortoise when it comes to turning over.

Shape of the Shell

The shape of the shell can make a really huge difference. Here are some examples of different shapes of shells.

The tortoise on the left has a much more rounder shape than the turtle on the right. And this difference in shape will make the turning over process quite different in terms of difficulty.

Here are two videos, one for each type of shell, and how they turn over:

If the shell is rounder the tortoise will have a slightly harder time getting back on its feet. This is because this type of shape has a tendency to always return to the position where it started. 

There is an object called Gömböc that is used in science and art that has a very similar shape and follows the exact mathematical rules. If you want to know more about the Gömböc and its scientific applications you can read more about it on its wikipedia page.

Now let’s move to the next part, the limbs.

Tortoise Limbs

As you’ve seen in the previous videos the limbs also play a very important role in the turning process. In short the longer the neck and legs, the easier it will be for the tortoise to turn over.

Here is an example:

Tortoises that have long necks, like the one in the picture, will have a considerably easier time turning over, compared to tortoises that have normal length necks. There are a few species that have this kind of neck, but every species has a slightly different neck size.

The same thing applies to the legs, the longer the legs, the easier it will be for the tortoise to turn over. And just like in the case of the neck, different species have different lengths. There is no universal size, even if most of them are quite close.

On the other hand, the tail length doesn’t really seem to matter, since most tortoises don’t seem to use it when they turn over. They only use their heads to turn in a direction, and their legs to balance themselves.

Now, there is one more factor that influences the ability of a tortoise to turn over, and that is age.

Age

Under normal circumstances, we would expect an older person or animal to have more experience and to know how to properly deal with more situations than their younger counterparts. But as it turns out this is not necessarily the case for turning over tortoises.

The biologist Ana Golubović made a study to see how turned-over tortoises react based on their age, and the results were quite surprising.

Younger tortoises had a better success rate at turning over than older tortoises. This is because younger tortoises are considerably more vulnerable when they are turned over, than their counterparts. And as a result, a sense of urgency appears that makes them move a lot faster and better.

Older tortoises have a much sturdier shell, so they are not as concerned as the younger ones. And they also know that taking their head and limbs out of the shell will make them very vulnerable, so instead, they choose to stay upside down a lot longer.

Here is a link to the study made by Biologist Ana Golubović.

Getting Help from Other Tortoises to Turn Over

Tortoises are not social animals, in fact, they normally prefer to stay away from each other. But when tortoises end up interacting with each other, they do it in a major way, like in this video where one tortoise helps another to turn over:

As I said tortoises don’t interact with each other too much, but when they do it it’s usually something very special. Tortoise interactions overall are very interesting this is why I wrote an article all about the social life of tortoises, in this article you can find how tortoises interact with each other when they do it, and why they do it, here is a link to the article: Are Tortoises Social or Solitary Animals? ( with Pictures and Video )

Now that we know how tortoises manage to turn themselves over, let’s see how they get that way in the first place.

What Happens If a Tortoise Stays Upside Down

The first and worst thing that can happen to an upside-down tortoise is getting attacked by a predator. When they are upside down tortoises have no chance of escaping any predator, the only thing that they can do is to hide in their shell and endure the attack of the predator.

Small insects can also be a problem, even if they are not as brutal as bigger predators. If for example, a colony of ants was to attack a tortoise that is turned on its back, the tortoise would be completely defenseless.

One other problem is that they won’t have access to water or food. While tortoises can survive for weeks without food and water, after some time it can get too much even for them.

One of the most overlooked but serious consequences of a turned-over tortoise is the internal organs that will press on the lungs. The lungs of a tortoise are positioned at the top of the shell, when they get turned over all the pressure from the internal organs will be applied directly to the lungs. Even if the tortoise manages to turn over, if they don’t do it fast enough they will end up with serious respiratory problems.

How Long Can a Tortoise on Its Back

Getting turned upside down is bad for tortoises and can have serious consequences even if there is no predator nearby, as they can end up with respiratory problems.

But those problems don’t appear right after the tortoise is turned over.

Saying an exact amount of time can be really hard. It all depends on the circumstances. If there is a predator nearby, one minute might be too much. If the weather is really hot, a tortoise can have health problems if it stays more than a couple of hours in the sun.

A few years ago there was an experiment in which a researcher turned over a few tortoises to see how they react and what effect it will have on them. The conclusion of the experiment is that tortoises won’t be affected in any negative way if they spend 30 minutes or less on their backs.

Related Questions

What are turtle shells made of? Turtle shells are made out of bones, and the exterior is covered with a keratin layer. Keratin is the same thing that our nails are made out of. If you want a more in-depth explanation you can always read my article: What Are Turtle Shells Made Of ? (with Pictures and Video)

Can turtles recognize their owners? Turtles can recognize you and they will understand that you play an important part in their lives, but they will not feel any familiarity towards you like dogs or cats would. Overall turtles recognize their owners but not in a way you would expect. You can always read more about this in my article: Can Turtles Recognize Their Owners ?

How fast are turtles? On average turtles walk at a speed between 3 to 4 miles per hour. The fastest turtles can reach 22 miles per hour ( 35 kilometers per hour ) in water and 15 miles per hour ( 24 kilometers per hour ) on land. The speed a turtle can reach is quite surprising, especially since they are known as very slow creatures. If you want to know what is the fastest turtle in the world, and how turtles compare to other animals when it comes to speed you should check out this article: How Fast or Slow Are Turtles? (with Videos and Statistics).

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