How Tortoises Can Connect Us, Heal Us, and Offer Hope

Source: Magda Ehlers/Pexels.

Many people are blessed to share their living and recreational spaces with a wide variety of nonhuman animals (animals). Common and attractive animals often are the ones who attract our attention. However, other creatures, a wide variety of wild neighbors, also can gain our attention and serve to bring people together, especially when we pay attention to who they are and their inherent beauty. For these and other reasons, I found Dr. Kendra Coulter's new book, The Tortoise Tale, to be an eye-opening read. In her lovely story, Kendra shows how "A century of American history unfolds through the eyes of a giant tortoise with a heightened awareness for live music, the location of edible flowers, and the nuances of human behavior." Here's what she had to say about her whimsically profound exploration of humanity’s entangled journey.

Marc Bekoff: Why did you write The Tortoise’s Tale?

Kendra Coulter: I learned about Jonathan, an Aldabra giant tortoise who is the world’s oldest land animal. He was taken from the Seychelles to the governor’s mansion on the island of Saint Helena where he lives to this day. This year, he is turning 193! It is deeply humbling, and I began to imagine how much Jonathan has seen; The Tortoise’s Tale is the result. It is the autobiographical memoir of a giant tortoise who is taken from her ancestral lands and placed inside an exclusive California estate. There, over the course of her long life, she observes the spotlight, the shadows, and the thorny landscapes in between and shares her unique perspective with humor, incisiveness, and both gentle and mighty care.

MB: How does your book relate to your background and general areas of interest?

KC: The primary purpose of my life is to improve and save animals’ lives. I’ve enjoyed writing for scholarly, public, and governmental audiences for many years, as well as creating the world’s first major in animal ethics and sustainability leadership. Expanding to fiction and being able to really engage with the power of emotion to invite people to learn about and empathize with animals is such a thrilling new chapter. I hope to reach many more minds and hearts, people who love animals and our shared planet, as well as those who are moved by the power of compassion, unexpected connection, and creativity.

Source: Simon & Schuster/with permission.

MB: What are some of the topics you consider and what are some of your major messages?

KC: Animal scholars will recognize animal agency, ecofeminism, ecoanxiety, captive animals, endangered species, the human-animal violence link, and farmed animals in the story and characters. There is even a nod to emerging work in bioacoustics. These dimensions are included clearly but gently since The Tortoise’s Tale is, first and foremost, a novel. But through fiction, many powerful truths can be revealed about interspecies harm, multispecies wellbeing, and the interconnectedness of all lives on this precious but vulnerable planet.

MB: Are you hopeful that as people learn more about these fascinating beings and how important they are for our well-being and the planet they will treat them with more respect and dignity?

KC: Absolutely. I am building on the incredible and impactful legacy of animal autobiographies like Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty and Margaret Marshall Saunders’s Beautiful Joe, both of which helped readers learn and contributed to behavior and policy change that benefited animals. My novel is a creative journey, but one informed by the realities of tortoises and new developments in tortoise conservation. As a result, without giving away key surprises in the story, the book is both timely and timeless, and highlights the roots and branches of both kindness and harm. I hope the tortoise inspires readers to act and live with militant care for animals, other people, and our shared world, regardless of the odds and barriers. She never gives up hope, and neither should we.