The critically endangered turtle is a mother for the first time in nearly 100 years

Like humans, some animals take up parenting later than usual. A pair of turtles in West Santa Cruz Galapagos at the Philadelphia Zoo have just become parents as they approached the century.

This month the Philadelphia Zoo declared The arrival of four hatches born of the Male Turtle Abrazzo and the appropriately called female mom. Hatchlings is the first born in the 150-year history of the zoo, and Mom is the oldest documented member of her species to become a mother. In the coming weeks, more hatching could appear.

Galapagos turtles, named after the islands near Ecuador, where they reside, are the largest turtles in the world and can live over 170 years in captivity. Western turtles Santa Cruz Galapagos are one of 13 living subspecies.

The turtles suffered a steep decline in the population, beginning in the 19th century, nourished by hunting and the introduction of invasive species in the area. Conservation efforts have intensified their number from late, but there is still only about 20,000 total In nature today. In particular, the turtles of West Santa Cruz are critically threatened -the creation of the arrival of these lamps even more importantly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynenqmczfou

However, it was a long trip for Mom to reach motherhood. She has been living in the Philadelphia zoo for more than 90 years. In 2020, as part of the plan for the survival of the types of zoo and aquariums (AZA), the zoo agreed to take an abraso from the zoo and the Riverbanks garden in South Carolina so that we can hope to mate with Mom. The pairing of the blind date works and by 2023 Mom begins to lay paw eggs.

Unfortunately, the first three connectors failed to lead to viable eggs. But the fourth clutch of Mom, laid in November 2024, was finally successful. The gender of the Galapagos turtle is determined by the temperature of the buried holes in which they are incubated as eggs. Mom lay 16 eggs, and the zoo team buried them at temperatures that will give up to 8 men and women’s female. The four hatches observed so far are all women.

“This is a monumental achievement for our animal care team that works diligently to ensure the right conditions of mom to lay their eggs and eggs to incubate themselves and successfully hatch,” says Lauren Avgustine, director of herpetology and birds at the zoo, B e statementS “This successful result comes from years of hard work, studying the behavior of animals and providing the highest level. So far, mom’s genes have not been represented in the AZA population, which makes these descendants extremely important in protecting this species.”

These hatchers are the first in the zoo accredited by AZA from 2019, and has only 44 individual giant turtles in Western Santa Cruz in all American zoo, in combination, according to the Philadelphia zoo. So hatching is vital for the continued conservation of this rare subspecies. Fortunately, Mom’s contribution to the genus pool may not be over. Her first turtle hatched on February 27, and the team still watched additional eggs that could hatch over the next few weeks.

The Philadelphia Zoo plans to publicly debut Mom’s hatches on April 23, the 93rd anniversary of her arrival at her zoo. They also plan to have the public name the decisive next generation of these long -lasting reptiles.