Why would the sun make the tortoise's growth black,it usely faids color? Is it because the animal is healthy'er therefor the pigment is layed down more natural looking.Also why does raising them inside make them blond or lighter.As a owner of many dark tortoises I dont see much of this sort of thing.Other than a emys emys is born a lite silver gray and turn brown in about six months.I can see that the front one third of a very old and black Mt.tortoise has turned brown and is more porous than the back half of the carapace because it stayes wet longer than the back half as if its had some UV oxadation.This two tone look appeared after about 10 years of captivity.I've been told that tree cover in some areas of their range is 90 % shade.Florida sun? Anyway I NEVER saw any wild Leopard tortoises come in BLOND out of the thousands I saw as an importer's shop pest visitor for 25 years or so.I did find out that you can change their color for quite some time if you soak them in Gator Aid.(dont use blue) Cool subject....what say you Pigmentologest? vic

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