Tag Archives: Tortoise

Have carrots, will travel

Sometimes something so different comes along that you can’t help but smile. Oliver Becker calls this “The Wandering Temple of the Last Flame” but I call it the coolest mode of transportation ever. Speed, performance, practicality, safety; all are unimportant when you’re riding in this much style. This viney bit and this other leafy bit make for excellent gold filigree while the sloping roof and red and black color scheme embodies an exotic Asian feel to the traveling temple.

The Wandering Temple Of The Last Flame

The pièce de ré·sis·tance, however, has to be the tortoise’s head which utilizes a Euripides Galidor torso. See, we all chuckled when the infamous Galidor sets came out but who is chuckling now? Still us, but for different reasons.

The Wandering Temple Of The Last Flame

It turns out, this is far from the first time Oliver has made us smile or even chuckle. Be sure to check out his previously featured Donald Duck roadster and fabled stork creations for more whimsy and wonder.

LEGO Builders on the half shell: a history of helping turtles and tortoises [Feature]

Last month, a story on LEGO bricks being used to help an injured turtle went viral. An Eastern box turtle was found with multiple fractures on its plastron (the name for the underside of a turtle/tortoise shell). Veterinary staff at the Maryland Zoo of Baltimore performed surgery, but they were concerned about allowing the turtle to move freely while healing properly. According to zoo employee Dr. Ellen Bronson, turtles take much longer to recover than mammals and birds due to a slower metabolism.

To help the turtle move without injuring itself again, Garrett Fraess (the Zoo’s veterinarian extern) and his colleagues sketched out some plans for a wheelchair…

Click here to read how people help turtles to recover…

A lumbering giant forged in stone

It’s easy to love life-like animal builds (at least for me), but some certainly stand out more than others. This giant rock tortoise by Ralf Langer  is one of those builds. The shaping is truly splendid, especially when it comes to the head, and the eyes are also quite expressive. In addition, the engineering to stabilize and support the head and neck had to be pretty tough to master!

Rock Tortoise

According to Ralf, this was sort of an accident. He was going for something else but apparently that something really wanted to be a tortoise instead. I think this birth of art has happened for many of us, and I’m especially grateful for builds like this. Apparently the rest of the tortoise isn’t quite finished, so I have my fingers crossed that there will be more to come soon!