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Asked by alexgabriel26 to Hayley, Sophie on 22 Mar 2013.
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Sophie Holles answered on 22 Mar 2013:
They don’t need to move faster in order to survive because they have their protective shell against predators and they eat plants that don’t run away very fast! Their speed is also probably limited by their slow metabolism (ie they don’t burn food very quickly) which also allows them to live longer.. its all about a trade off in how they use their energy.
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Hayley Evers-King answered on 22 Mar 2013:
You’d probably be surprised how fast they can move! I have a pet tortoise (called Linford after a famous runner) and when he gets going he can be surprisingly fast, usually when he’s running away from my dog or trying to bury out of the garden!
Reptiles like tortoises are very interesting, because they manage their energy in a completely different way to us! They need to heat up their body using external heat sources (like the sun), unlike us who can keep our body temperatures constant by burning up our food supply. Their way has it advantages – they can go a long time without food (this is part of what allows them to hibernate!) but it also means that before they get heated up they move very, very slowly!
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