Mediterranean Spur-thighed Tortoises (Testudo graeca) exhibit pre-copulatory behavior particularly under specific experimental setups

The pre-copulatory behavior of the Mediterranean Spur-thighed Tortoise (Testudo graeca), especially the means by which males and females find each other in the breeding season, has been poorly addressed. We conducted behavioral experiments to investigate the pre-copulatory behavior of sexually mature T. graeca males and females under semi-natural and restrictive captive conditions. We found that when females were kept under constraining captive conditions, they were no longer approached by males during the breeding season. However, when the females were under semi-natural conditions during the breeding season, males displayed significantly more sniffing, patrolling, and climbing events toward the opposite sex. Moreover, males, that were located inside an enclosure where they could move freely toward surrounding conspecifics, which they could not see, showed a clear preference for the female side of the enclosure. During the non-breeding season, none of these behaviors were displayed. It seems that the mating season begins with males sensing, most likely through a chemo-orientation, the location of females but not vice versa. We suggest that restrictive captivity in females could lead to suppressed reproductive behavior in both sexes, including the pre-copulatory searching behavior that males normally exhibit in the wild. This study presents novel information on the pre-copulatory behaviors of this vulnerable tortoise and emphasizes the importance of housing T. gracea individuals under semi-natural rather than restrictive captive conditions during the breeding season.