Tortoise and fawn friendship breaks up

A friendship between a desert tortoise and an orphaned fawn has ended, as the fawn was released in the wild and a warmer adoptive home is sought for the tortoise.

The creatures have thrived living alongside each other at a rehabilitation centre in Idaho since July but the tortoise is unlikely to survive the onset of autumn in the area, the centre's spokeswoman Dotty Cooper said, adding: "It's just way too cold."



The tortoise, named Sadie, even showed the fawn how to forage for greens to eat - a process much harder for humans to demonstrate, Ms Cooper said.

The duo once wandered off after the tortoise burrowed under a plastic fence. "When I got home, she and the deer were marching down the road," Ms Cooper said.