FIRST-TIME MOM: Philly Zoo's oldest resident gives birth to 4 critically endangered tortoises

Welcome back. Well, we've all heard the expression, slow and steady wins the race. And in this case, mommy, an endangered Galapagos tortoise at the Philadelphia Zoo is giving new meaning to late bloomer. At nearly 100 years old, she hatched a new chapter with four tiny surprises. This is a very unique situation. Our animals are estimated to be over 95 years old each. And so for these animals to come together and breed successfully here at the zoo is an amazing accomplishment. So these are the first Western Island Santa Cruz Island Galapagos tortoises ever to hatch at our zoo. Amazing. The newborns have bumped the population of the Western Santa Cruz Galapagos tortoises in the U.S. facilities to 48. Mommy is estimated to be 97 and has lived most of her life at the Philadelphia Zoo. Abrazo is about 96 years old and arrived in Philadelphia during the pandemic. His records go back to a Texas zoo in 1929. Specialists orchestrated the coupling and apparently sparks didn't immediately fly, but genetically the zoo considers them to be the perfect match. And because of the size, the hatchlings will remain in a temperature controlled environment of the zoo's reptile and amphibian house. We want to make sure they don't grow too fast. And so we really monitor their nutrition as well as their environment to make sure that we're raising them on the trajectory that's aligned with wild tortoises so that we don't see any health problems in the future. So this is really cool. The babies will officially debut on April 23rd. And the reason why that is so significant is because that was the day back in 1932 that Mommy the tortoise first arrived at the Philadelphia Zoo. My goodness. That's a full circle. They're like, don't rush us. Yeah. We're going to get around to it. Right. I love that you said sparks didn't immediately fly. It took them two years. Here we go. Thank you.