Tortoises are big – gigantic, and heavy. As opposed to turtles, tortoises live on land; they have heavier more hollow shells and can live long (the record for the longest living tortoise is 326 years!). There is speculation that these slow-moving reptiles are very similar to dinosaurs, and they’ve been around forever – most likely since the Triassic period!
The Galapagos Tortoise, which is the largest living species of tortoise, was once sought after for its fleshy meat, high-protein eggs and large shells used in medicine and jewelry. As a result, their conservation status is currently ranked at “vulnerable.” These big creatures are in need of a little extra help.
At the Zurich Zoo in Switzerland, caretakers are doing what they can to preserve the remaining tortoises. Meet Nigrita the Galapagos Tortoise, who is potentially the oldest mom on the planet at 80-years-old, and 220 lbs.; she came to the Zurich Zoo in 1946.
Nigrita is part of a special breeding program that helps this species breed – she just delivered a total of 9 hatchlings! The 54-year-old father is named Jumbo and weighs 440 lbs.
The hard-shelled eggs are roughly the size of tennis balls, and the babies are folded up inside when they hatch. All of Nigrita’s hatchlings were born healthy and without complication.
The babies have since been sent off to a dozen zoos, making the Zurich Zoo the only one in Europe to have successfully bred this species of tortoise in captivity.
Get all the good news in the link below. Congratulations Nigrita and Jumbo!
