Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Galapagos tortoises at Philadelphia Zoo become first-time parents at nearly 100
The Galapagos tortoise is the largest living species of tortoise, which can weigh up to over 400 kg. Galapagos tortoise are healthy vegetarians that eat cacti, grasses, leaves, lichens, berries, melons, oranges, and milkweed, and live up to 100 years but are a critically endangered species. Females travel several kilometers to reach nesting areas of dry sandy coast, dig nests over days, and lay a few to a dozen eggs. At Philadeliphia Zoo, the oldest zoo in America with a history of over 150 years, a female Galapagos tortoise, which came to the zoo in 1932, became the oldest first-time mom of the species. The four hatchlings weigh about the same as a chicken egg, and other eggs are still being monitored for hatching. If you visit America’s longest-running zoo, you’ll find the oldest mother Galapagos tortoise and the world’s youngest Galapagos tortoises.
Read the article and learn about a century-old, first-time mother tortoise.
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/04/07/travel/galapagos-tortoises-philadelphia-zoo-scli-intl/index.html
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