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Rare fact: at the Houston Zoo, a 90-year-old turtle had babies! This star tortoise from Madagascar, a male named Mr Pickles, became a father after his partner, Mrs Pickles, aged 53, laid three eggs a few months ago. The shells recently cracked and emerged Dill, Gherkin and Jalapeño, the zoo announced in mid-March.
Madagascar’s star tortoises, native to said island off Africa, are considered “critically endangered,” according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Poachers seize them to sell them as pets. The species reproduces only very rarely.
Photo: Jackelin Reyna Zoo Houston
The male, named Mr Pickles.
In a press release, the Houston Zoo explains that the birth of the little turtles proved possible because — stroke of luck! — a keeper saw Mrs Pickles laying her eggs. Since the soil in the Texas zoo is not conducive to the development of the eggs, they probably would not have developed healthily. They were therefore dug up and moved to undergo assisted incubation.
Scientists don’t know how old star tortoises — whose lifespans can easily exceed a century — are able to reproduce, says an article by the New York Times. Tu’i Malila, a star tortoise given by explorer James Cook to the royal family of Tonga in 1777, is the oldest known specimen in literature. This venerable female died in 1966.
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