October 11, 2005

• She doesn't look a day over 150 does she?
• There are thought to be barely a dozen of her sub-species left. This is partly her fault. She still ovulates, but has not had a mate for 100 years. You can't blame her for that, since according to this... Harriet's Brisbane caretakers mistook her for a male, dubbing her "Harry." For the next 100 years, they tried in vain to mate her with other female Galapagos land tortoises. Anyway, happy birthday old girl!
• The size of an enormous paella dish I knew there was a reason to Britain switched to the metric system. How many pints are there in a giant paella dish?
• ...she was picked up by whalers for something more prosaic than research, namely her urine (for drinking)... What? Everybody here swigs back tortoise urine with abandon but me? I want to know how many pints there are in Harriet!
• I dunno, are paella dishes really that big? As I recall, last time I saw her she was a bit grumpy - apparently she'd been biting the other tortoises in a bid to secure more aubergines, courgettes and parsley, and as a result was moved to a private enclosure.
• At 175, she's earned the riht to be grumpy.
• add a 'g' to riht. the one time I don't use preview...
• Here, have a glass of tortoise urine. Don't worry about it.
• /glug Thanks.
• Paella pans can easily exceed a meter in diameter. Though there are limits.