Tortoises Divorce After Over 100 Years Together

Giant tortoises Bibi, female, and Poldi, male, have been living in captivity together in an Austrian zoo for over a century now, but after all of that time it looks like the tortoises have finally had enough of each other–and they’re getting a divorce.

A report from the Austrian Times from last week says that after 100 years, Bibi decided that she couldn’t stand the site of her mating partner anymore. In fact, she apparently loathes her tortoise companion so much that she bit off a portion of Poldi’s shell, and launched several attacks against him.

“They are both 115 years old – they have been together since they were young and grew up together, eventually becoming a pair,” Helga Happ, director of the zoo, told the Austrian Times. “But for no reason that anyone can discover they seem to have fallen out, they just can’t stand each other.”

For now, Poldi has been moved to a different enclosure for his own protection. Still, zookeepers remain hopeful that the tortoises’ divorce isn’t final just yet–they’re aiming to gradually get the couple accustomed to being in the same enclosure again.

“We have staff talking to and trying to engage the two in interacting, and we hope that they might find their harmony again,” Happ added. “We were told that it’s very rare that after so many years animals who are a pair will fall apart, but that’s where we are. We hope though we can bring around reconciliation.”