The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-11-27
TURTLES IN CAPTIVITY.
They Never Altogether Give over Eff
forts TO Gain Freedom.
Irvo,,, ~ a o-au, v,,I~ CO..


The big five-foot loggerhead turtle at the
Aquarium at intervals goes slowly round
and round the brick-walled porcelain lined
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. pool in which 1t is kept,
trying to get out. 1t is not In any hurry,
not in the slightest degree. 1t sets its head
gently against the wall, with Its body ex-
tending outward and backward into the
pool. and, keeping its hippers moving just
enough 10 keep itself ahoat, it works its
way slowly round the pool
In this the big loggerhead is like all the
other turtles In the Aquarium; more than
any other animals there, more persistent
ly, the turtles seek freedom. There isn't a
fish there, most comfortably quartered,
well fed, and kindly cared for as they are,
that wouldn't be glad to get out, IL IL could
There are fishes In the Aquarium that have
been there for years, that have doubled
in size and weight in that time, and that
are well and happy; but just given 'em a
chance and they'd scoot so fast you
couldn't see their tails But most of the
fishes that have been there any length Of
time have become so accustomed to their
home and surroundings that they accept
their condition Of captivity with tranquil
ity, not with actual contentment
The turtles, however, never altogether
give up trying to get out. II Is the same
with them all-the turtles from the
streams, and the turtles from the sea
Zig swapping turtles that the aquarium
has had in tanks have always spent more
or less of their time wandering around
looking for place to get out; never in
a hurry, but always looking. Manuel the
hawksbill turtle from he China seas, that
has been In the Aquarium now for year
or two, spends lots Of his tine with his
beak pressed against the glass. He wants
to get out. Manuel did have one spell Of
comparative freedom. For time, be-
fore the turtle tanks were completed he
had the run Of the laboratory, a long
room perhaps fifty by twenty feet, and he
had fine time there. roaming up and
down the big room at Will, hating on cold
days to warm himself on comfortable
spots in The floor made warm by the heat
from steampipes underneath, and being
put away in a tank at night to be set free
again Ia the morning. But when the tur-
tie tanks were completed Manuel had to
take quarters with The rest, and now, like
all the turtles, he wants 10 get out
Why the turtles are all so persistent
in their efforts for freedom might be hard
to say conclusiveiy. Perhaps they have a
higher order Of intelligence than the fishes
and II may be due to their having a great
er radius Of action in nature. There are
turtles that range about OF the land as
well as in the water, and sea turtles come
ashore 10 lay their eggs. Such turtles as
the big loggerhead az the Aquarium may
go 1000 miles to sea. They sleep there up
on the water The boundless ocean Is
their home. There are fishes indeed, with
a wide sea range. but here is nothing
perhaps, that floats or swims that Is freer
than the loggerhcad turtle and the In
stinctiye desire for freedom that anlmatcs
II seems TO animate all turtle kind.