- The human assistant mounts paper on a vertical surface or an easel, and the turtle paddles through the air on the assistant’s hand, pushing with the other feet on available parts of the hand (clarifying the direction of movement) and inclines her head to indicate a marker (usually black or red).
- The turtle steers in the same way toward the paper and touches it with her beak to indicate the starting point for the first line.
- The assistant marks the spot.
- The turtle returns to the starting spot for the first line and each of the following lines and stretches out her neck, drawing her beak across the paper in a straight line or curve.
- The assistant, keeping the hand steady, watches the direction and shape of each line and reproduces it with the marker. Only if the indicated line is stretching beyond the turtle’s neck reach does the assistant move the supporting hand in the direction the turtle is indicating.
|Eastern box turtle Diode pushes with|
considerable pressure against the paper.
|Diode and pancake tortoise Willow pose by two of the |
pumpkin faces drawn by them and the other chelonians
of the lab, one feature per individual.