It once seemed that the name for the tortoise called “Mommy” at the Philadelphia Zoo had been poorly chosen. For decades, the female reptile had failed to produce hatchlings that survived beyond a couple of months — until now. In November, Mommy again laid a batch of eggs. She laid 16 in all. Four of them have now hatched into baby tortoises. They are Mommy’s first offspring to survive since her arrival at the zoo in 1932. “They are about the size of a tennis ball and they are pretty feisty,” Lauren Augustine told The New York Times. She's the zoo’s director of herpetology, which is the study of reptiles. Mommy and her male mate, Abrazzo, are the oldest living creatures at the zoo. Both are just short of 100 years old. Tortoises from the Galápagos Islands can live up to 200 years old, meaning they are in relative midlife. The zoo plans to open a display of the hatchlings on April 23, giving the public its first view of the young tortoises. Technically, they are of the Western Santa Cruz subspecies. They are considered critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Their population is only in the thousands. All four hatchlings are female. They are unlikely to ever live in the same space as their parents. The adults are massive, with Mommy weighing 280 pounds and Abrazzo at 410 pounds. Zookeepers said they could easily crush their children just roaming around. The zoo will keep the hatchlings in captivity for at least five years, at which time they may be released into the wild in the Galápagos. Those are islands off the coast of Ecuador in South America. Or, they may be placed with another zoo in hopes they will make hatchlings of their own some day. Reflect: What do you think helps animals thrive and grow in their environment? Photo of Mommy courtesy of @phillyzoo from X.
