Sylvester Stallone Still Has The Two Turtles From Rocky, And They're 44 Now

Whether he's a scrappy former soldier who mercilessly guns down his enemies or a scrappy underdog boxer who mercilessly KO's his opponents, the characters that made Stallone famous are of a certain type.

Maybe it's his classic movies or maybe it's the fact that Sly Stallone, seen here at 72 years old, still looks fully capable of destroying just about anyone, but it's hard to see the warm, fuzzy side of this star.

The thing about Stallone's roles is that while they might be a little overly heavy on the butt-kicking, they all have a lot of heart. It turns out this goes beyond the character and extends to Sly himself.

Earlier this year Stallone shared this awesome pic, along with a heartwarming story. It sounds like, in a tough time for the young actor, this dog was all he really had — and that friendship is fondly remembered to this day.

Here we can see Stallone living the dream of any 72-year-old retiree. The only difference is that this 72-year-old isn't officially retired, and still looks fully capable of taking on an entire platoon.

I'm talking about the OG movie. Not one of the sequels, but the one featuring a young Rocky Balboa, out to prove the world wrong. You might remember that Rocky had a couple of buddies in this film.

Early on, when Rocky is still in the process of wooing his eventual wife Adrian, he invites her into his apartment to introduce her to his turtles, Cuff and Link. You can see a video of the scene here.

In the scene, Rocky casually shows off his pecs while giving Adrian a brief rundown of his turtle pals. At some moments, he even gestures with one of the turtles to make a point.

When the camera cuts back to Adrian, she's clearly a little weirded out. It's hard to imagine love blossoming from this weird turtle encounter, but somehow, Adrian and Rocky (Rockdrian?) became a thing?

Incredibly, more than four decades after the first Rocky film, both turtles are still alive. The best part is that they've been living with Stallone that whole time. He shared this Instagram post to give a glimpse of his life with Cuff and Link.

Anyone who's seen the movie understands that turtle appreciation is a small but meaningful component of Rocky's character. It turns out the guy who plays him is also a bit of a turtle aficionado.

Sylvester Stallone was a young, virtually unknown actor when he first crossed paths with Cuff and Link. It's awesome that he hasn't forgotten where he came from — or the people/turtles who helped him get to where he is.