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Testudo graeca ibera (Family: Testudinidae ; common name: Greek Tortoise; Spur-thighed Tortoise)
The Greek tortoise is often confused with Hermann's Tortoise (Testudo hermanni). However, there are nine notable differences that enable them to be distinguished. As far as its biology is concerned, the animals leave their nightly shelters, which are usually hollows protected by thick bushes or hedges, to bask in the sun and warm their bodies early in the morning. They then roam about the Mediterranean meadows of their habitat in search of food. They determine which plants to eat by the sense of smell. (In captivity, they are known to eat dandelions, clover and lettuce as well as the leaves, flowers, and pods of almost all legumes.) In addition to leaves and flowers, the animals eat fruits as supplementary nutrition. They only eat a small amount of fruit, just enough to satisfy themselves. Around midday, the sun becomes too hot for the tortoises, so they return to their hiding places. They have a good sense of direction to enable them to return. Experiments have shown that they also possess a good sense of time, the position of the sun, the magnetic lines of the earth, and for landmarks. In the late afternoon, they leave their shelters again and return to feeding. Tortoises are particularly long-lived animals, which are presumed to live as long as 70-100 years (1).
The adult turtle shown in these photos was found in early spring which means that it must have just come out of the hibernation stage. What caught our attention was the part of the grass it was holding in its mouth while walking, resembling Lucky Luke in its late form with a piece of straw in his mouth instead of the classic cigarette. The turtle is an animal which does not panic easily so it stood there motionless (despite the flash) and allowed us to take a picture from the top - the kind of picture which helps to classify them. A macro lens was used to get maximum detail while, to our surprise, the Nikkor 300 mm f/2.8 lens, mounted on a Nikon D300 camera did not give us comparable results under the same conditions. Sometimes it pays to carry two cameras with different lenses.
The baby turtle, measuring a mere 7 cm, was found in the afternoon foraging for food. We try not to interfere with nature when out shooting; on this occasion we could not resist briefly turning the youngster on its back to take a quick shot. We then released it at a safer place away from the walk path; it blended so nicely with the background that anybody could have stepped on it accidentally, had we left it where we found it.
Photos by Marina Parha and George J. Reclos
Shooting Data:
1. Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: AF Tamron 180 mm f/3.5 SP Di Macro 1:1
Sensitivity: ISO 400
Shutter speed - aperture: 1/640 sec - f/10, Shutter priority mode
Flash: SB-800 in i-TTL/BL/FP (high speed synchronization) mode
Image: JPEG edited in Photoshop CS4, levels adjusted, sharpening added and resized.
2. Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: AF Tamron 180 mm f/3.5 SP Di Macro 1:1
Sensitivity: ISO 400
Shutter speed - aperture: 1/640 sec - f/10, Shutter priority mode
Flash: SB-800 in i-TTL/BL/FP (high speed synchronization) mode
Image: JPEG edited in Photoshop CS4, levels adjusted, sharpening added and resized.
3. Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: AF Tamron 180 mm f/3.5 SP Di Macro 1:1
Sensitivity: ISO 200
Shutter speed - aperture: 1/250 sec - f/11, Manual mode
Flash: SB-800 in i-TTL/BL/FP (high speed synchronization) mode
Image: NEF edited in Photoshop CS4, levels adjusted, sharpening added saved as JPEG and resized.
4 and 5. Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: Tamron 180 mm f/3.5 SP Di Macro 1:1
Sensitivity: ISO 200
Shutter speed - aperture: 1/500 sec - f/11, Manual mode
Flash: Nikon SB-800 in TTL/BL/FP (high speed synchronization) mode
Image: NEF edited in Photoshop CS4, levels adjusted, sharpening added, saved as JPEG and resized.
Photo by Nicholas Parchas
6. Camera: Nikon D80
Lens: AF Tamron 180mm f/3.5 Macro 1:1
Sensitivity: ISO 100
Shutter speed - aperture: 1/200 sec - f/11, Manual mode
Flash: SB800 in i-TTL mode, diffuser on.
Image: NEF edited in Photoshop CS4, levels adjusted, sharpening added saved as JPEG and resized.
(1) Wikipedia
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