"The appearance of turtles", Love customs of animals, Buenos Aires 1945.
THE LARGE AQUATIC AND Pelagic SPECIES: Leatherback turtles and chelonians join the sexes and are supposed to remain mated. The coupling, by means of a simple penis, is verified in the sea and the females come out of the water to go to lay their eggs, in number of a hundred or more, on the neighboring beaches; they scratch the earth with their hind legs until they form a conical bucket in which they deposit the posture, which they immediately cover by the same procedure; the sun is responsible for incubating them.
In these animals, the approximation of the sexes can last from 15 to 30 days without the male abandoning the female. In land turtles, the former has a concavity in the middle part of its ventral plastron and such depression must more or less conform to the convexity of the female's shell. Among the giant tortoises, the males, during their amorous expansions, produce a kind of bark, while the females remain mute. Riding on the back of the female, who is unfazed and continues to walk, the males make great efforts to get to mate; they don't succeed until the female stops. Then they raise the body until the shell is almost vertical; the position of the male, in an otherwise unstable equilibrium, the collision of the shells, the repeated attempts without result, form a set that can be taken as a prototype of difficult loves.
According to Cunnigham, the male of a small American semi-aquatic species - Painted Emid - constantly harasses the female, tries to stop her and as soon as he succeeds, he mounts her and hits her head and eyes with the claws of his front legs. , with so much speed that the sight cannot follow its movements. Faced with caresses of such a nature, the female makes efforts to escape, but the male chases her relentlessly until he achieves his goal. In terms of brutality, the Cistuda of Europe, or the muddy turtle of the puddles and ponds of our country, wins over its peers. It unites with the female in almost all times of the year with no other exception than the coldest months of winter.
For the pareo, the male mounts the female sometimes for several days, both on land and in water, and she goes from one place to another without showing any emotion; but the male persists until he immobilizes her; it prevents him from lifting his head from the shell, if they are on land, or lifting his head to breathe, if the couple is in the water. By any chance, does the female intend to resist? The male bites her with his powerful jaws until she rips off her head plates or even skinns her neck. When the male has managed to immobilize his partner, he releases the shell that he was holding with his front legs and straightens the body by throwing it back, while holding on with the hind limbs. Then lower the tail and practice copulation. Sometimes a second male appears who intends to participate in weddings; attacks and bites the first, tries to dislodge him from his position; if he cannot, he perches on the first occupant and the female has to bear double the weight.
