It's too hot and I don't want to come out of my burrow. Please don't make me choose between photos of Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck. I'm just a simple tortoise and the only racing I know about it is how Tortellini puts away the vegetation and then sprints back to the burrow. Oh, she's fast, really fast. Who says a desert tortoise can't cover a lot of ground in a hurry? Did you know we can walk 7 miles a day? And if there's any red fruit or flowers involved, you might be surprised at how fast we can move. Chomp, chomp!!
It's so hot that I almost wish I was one of these red-eared sliders my tortoise mom and dad saw on their vacation. They look very cool, don't they? But tortoises can't swim so we have to do the underground burrow thing to manage body temperature instead. The burrow is always at least 20 degrees cooler than the outside air. I like the old burrow best because it's deeper so the temperature is even more comfortable. It's like a dirt thermostat!
