609-pound tortoise looking for love in Tulsa
By Beccy Tanner | Wichita Eagle
At age 78 and tipping the scales at 609 pounds, Rocket is a ladies' man — as far as tortoises go. Within the month, Rocket will be headed across the Kansas border in search of a bigger pad and lost love.
The Sedgwick County Zoo's most iconic Aldabra tortoise — commonly known as the giant tortoise — has grown too big for the zoo's 1970-era amphibian and reptile building.
Rocket is not only leaving Wichita, where he's lived for 40 years, but also leaving his tortoise friends Speed, Missy and Washington.
The Aldabra tortoises are native to the Aldabra Atoll in the Indian Ocean and are not considered endangered.
Moving, however slowly, will be a big change for this septuagenarian.
"We are excited about the prospect of having him down here. An animal that big is kind of exciting," said Barry Downer, curator of reptiles and aquatics at the Tulsa Zoo and Living Museum.
Read the complete story at kansas.com
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