Turtle Yoga

Bob Levy, a frequent night-time observer of Central Park wildlife, sends in a sunny, daytime reverie about two kinds of turtles basking peacefully on a single log. But are they merely basking? Bob thinks not. [Photo and caption by Bob Levy]


“Very good but try harder to get your other leg off the ground and don’t forget to breathe and don’t strain.”

For a change here's something I can recommend you try at home. I serendipitously stumbled into a turtle-yoga class. Not being an expert I found It hard to interpret the significance of this one-on-one situation involving members of two different species. The smaller one looks like a Painted Turtle and the other a Red-eared Slider. Can you turtle experts out there offer an explanation?

Later at home I managed to successfully perform this turtle-yoga pose myself. It was fairly easy to do for a short time but I could not hold it as long as these turtles did. At least five minutes had passed when I left them and and they continued to maintain the pose with poise, so to speak, as I walked away. I suppose their specialized anatomy was a plus. To keep those legs up it probably helps to have the advantage of a shell.