Glass shell for tortoise with hole

Timmy, though to have been hurt in a fight, has been fitted with a crash helmet to keep wound sanitised

Glass shell for tortoise with hole

Timmy, though to have been hurt in a fight, has been fitted with a crash helmet to keep wound sanitised

A giant tortoise with a big hole in its shell has been fitted with a specially made fibre-glass 'crash helmet' by vets while the hole heals.

Timmy is thought to have been hurt in a fight with another tortoise at its home in Paignton Zoo, Devon. But the zoo's vets came up with the idea of covering the hole in the Aldabra giant tortoise's shell to keep it clean and protected during the slow healing process.

Fight

Mike Bungard, curator of lower vertebrates and invertebrates at Paignton Zoo, said, "We think the shell was damaged by another tortoise. The vets cleaned up the hole and the shell will grow back but it could take 18 months. In the meantime we needed to cover up the hole and we hit upon the idea of making a section of artificial shell out of fibre glass."

Mr Neilson took a cast from a scute of a similar size on another tortoise using a paper mould and Plaster of Paris.

He then cast a fibre glass 'crash helmet' and adjusted it so it fit Timmy perfectly. Aldabra giant tortoises come from Aldabra Atoll in the Indian Ocean.

Imported illegally

They can grow up to 227 kg in weight with a shell of up to 122cm in length and can live for well over 100 years. Timmy is 23 years old and weighs a modest 153 kilos.

The tortoises now at the zoo were originally imported illegally in 1986 and confiscated by Customs, before being re-homed at the zoo.

When they arrived in Paignton they were the size of a fist. The Aldabra giant tortoise is listed as vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, which means it faces a high risk of extinction in the wild.

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