The Ripping Turtle Like Asimov's Horse, the Ripping Turtle is suspected to be manufactured in origin. The Turtle has six legs, is about two feet in length, and uses its powerful front claws to shred scrap copper, brass, zinc and bronze, which it then secretes in holes.

The discovery of a Ripping Turtles's nest is considered very valuable, but the downside to the scavenging creature is that it will cut its way through anything to find scrap metal, and that will include houses and buildings. Considered as much of a pest as the invasive rhododendron and potentially as dangerous as the Yateveo, Head Office are reportedly drafting a Standard Variable to allow the Ripping Turtle to be culled - the first permitted destruction of fauna since the eradication of the Rapacious Sponge-worm in 00276.

The Ripping Turtle should be generally avoided, and although skilled in the discovery of non-ferrous metals, they can be directed away from villages by simply pointing them in the opposite direction, or by the construction of a 3:1 slope.

The TAXA number has been logged, but like the Asimov Horse, does not appear to relate to anything else in the animal kingdom.

---