Meeting Them at the Zoo Yesterday at the zoo, I stood in front of two leopard tortoises. They looked almost like opposites, even though they were side by side. One had a shell with gentle curves and subtle variation, but nothing close to the jagged peaks of the other. At first it looked strange, almost startling. But the longer I stood there, the more I felt drawn in. What I Learned I later discovered these tortoises are some of the largest in the world—sometimes over two feet long and heavy enough to weigh close to ninety pounds. No wonder they seemed so grounded, like walking anchors in the grass. That…