Hi-ho silver! Turtle rides alligator across pond at Cincinnati Zoo

This little turtle is one hitchhiker who wasn't afraid to take a risk after he demanded a lift across his pond from an alligator.

Hopping on the back of his reptilian friend, the red-eared slider turtle looks as though he's on a mission to get somewhere quick - commandeering his 5ft makeshift craft across the water.

The turtle, it seems, was taking on a new, more sinister angle to Aesop's fable 'The Tortoise and The Hare', where a rabbit challenges a shelled opponent to a race but is too cocky, takes it too easy, and loses.

Minus the hare though - which would surely be dinner for the alligator - both the creatures in this photo share the same enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden in America.

According to staff who look after the animals it's quite normal to see the turtle riding the endangered Chinese alligator.

The pals were captured sharing the moment by wildlife photographer Connie Lemperle, who lives in Ohio and has an interest in capturing animals in curious poses.


/Metro/