Press: Love-row turtles moved
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Posted by W von Papineäu on April 11, 2003 at 13:19:37:
BBC (London, UK) 11 April 03 Love-row turtles moved
Two giant turtles are being moved halfway across England to stop them fighting over two females.
Male turtles Molokai and Gulliver are being transported from their aquarium in Brighton to another in Birmingham.
Staff want to keep them away from the two females they shared a tank with amid fears they might all be brothers and sisters.
There are also worries for Molokai's safety after Gulliver began to act aggressively towards his love rival.
Turtles at loggerheads
Molokai, a green turtle, was only moved to Brighton's Sea Life Centre at the end of January after outgrowing a tank at the Blackpool Tower Aquarium.
He had previously shared a home there with Gulliver, who had moved a year earlier.
But the pair were soon at loggerheads as the tension between the creatures, who both weigh more than 20 stone, began to rise.
Molokai, who was illegally imported into the UK as a hatchling more than 20 years ago, was taken to Birmingham in the early hours of Friday morning.
He will be followed by Gulliver in the next few weeks.
Curator of Birmingham Sea Life Centre, Josie Sutherland, said: "We believe this will make Molokai more inclined to stick up for himself and secondly, that the absence of females will make Gulliver less likely to be aggressive anyway.
"They are also being separated from the two female turtles to prevent them trying to mate as they may be siblings from the same batch of eggs."
A 400 kilogram hoist and large lorry were used to move Molokai to his new 800,000 litre tank.
He was sprayed with seawater throughout the journey from the Sussex coast to the Midlands to stop him dehydrating.
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