The Amazing Pancake Tortoise

Background

The Show

This Labor Day weekend, our family visited one of our favourite science center, OMSI.  We learned about the Reptile and Amphibian Show and decided to attend the show.  The show is why I felt the urge to write about it.

What is the Reptile and Amphibian Show?
Crawl, creep, and slither your way to one of the largest gatherings of reptiles and amphibians in the Pacific Northwest when OMSI presents the Reptile and Amphibian Show, Labor Day weekend, Sept. 1 - 3, 2012. Over 100 exotic animals will be on display at this popular event, including a large variety of captive-bred snakes, lizards, turtles, alligators, and more.
The show will feature a special hands-on area where several dozen nonvenomous reptiles and amphibians will be available for supervised interaction. Experts will be available throughout the weekend to answer questions about these amazing and often misunderstood creatures.

There were 2 special presentations offered that day and we were lucky to be able to attend both. 

The first presentation is - "Pancake Tortoises" by Rosemary Lombard.  You can find her blog here - http://chelonianconnection.blogspot.com.  She started her presentation with an introduction to the Pancake Tortoises.  Next came the interesting portion, where Rosemary shared how she started to communicate with the pancake tortoise.  The ability of the pancake tortoise to (a) communicate with human, (b) remember and demonstrate what it learned is nothing short of amazing.  Lastly, came the most interesting portion of the presentation - a demonstration!  Watch the video to appreciate this.

 

Scuter writing his name!

 

 
The second presentation is - "Mr. Lizard’s Mobile Zoo" by Mr Lizard.  You can find his web site here - http://misterlizard.com/.  Mr Lizard's real name is Brett Wilson.

Mr. Lizard, who provides an interactive, hands-on experience with his mobile reptile zoo. Mr. Lizard and his animals have been featured in a variety of media, including The Late Late Show, CMT,Animal Planet and Harper's Bazaar.

 

Overall, the Reptile and Amphibian Show is well worth the time and cost as we got exposed to many different reptiles and witnessed an amazing act by Scuter, the pancake tortoise.