Tortoise Social needs?

by Jen
(Minneapolis, MN)

I often read that tortoises don't have social needs because they live alone in the wild. I have had one female Russian Tortoise for about a year, and I recently got a second (male) one. They do not live in the same enclosure yet, but a couple times I have taken them outside together, and my female always follows my male around and seems very interested in him. Just the other day I put him in her enclosure for a few minutes while I was cleaning his, and they spent their time together nuzzling each other. I also noticed at the pet store that despite having a big enough cage and one hiding spot for each tortoise, they all piled into the same hiding spot. It seems to me like despite what everybody says about tortoises not having social needs, they are social animals. I'm wondering if maybe their social behavior has just not been researched much? Or are the sources I read wrong? Or is it just that their social behavior in captivity is different from their social behavior in the wild?