VIDEO: Tortoise gets wheelchair

One of Earth's slowest moving creatures just got a lot faster.

Ten-year-old "Arava," an African Spurred Tortoise, is paralyzed in her back legs, and is unable to walk.

So Zookeepers in Jerusalem's Biblical Zoo strapped her to a set of wheels and she now leaves the others in the dust.

"After a long period of testing, examination, X-rays, and everything else that we could try to find out what was the cause of these paralyzed legs, we found out that we can't really help her, so the only way we found out to help her maneuver the enclosure would be to put wheels instead of the legs. So everyday for a few hours, she's attached to these wheels, and is moving in the enclosure in an almost normal way," says zoological curator at Jerusalem Biblical Zoo Shmulik Yedvav.

Given a new lease of life, Arava has also started to mate.

But zookeepers say that her wheels (and possibly the eye-popping color of the harness) have resulted in unwanted attention from other males attempting to hitch a ride - much to the delight of the visitors.

Even though Arava is only allowed to use the contraption a few hours a day to stop her legs degenerating further, she would certainly give that hare a run for his money.

Copyright 2008 Reuters. click for restrictions