CNN – A pair of critically endangered, nearly 100-year-old Galapagos tortoises at the Philadelphia Zoo have become first-time parents.
In an announcement Friday, the zoo said it is “overjoyed” at the arrival of the four hatchlings, a first in its more than 150-year history.
The babies are the offspring of female Mommy and male Abrazzo, the zoo’s two oldest residents.
The quartet is being kept behind the scenes for now, “eating and growing appropriately,” the zoo said.
“Mommy arrived at the Zoo in 1932, meaning anyone that has visited the Zoo for the last 92 years has likely seen her,” President and CEO Jo-Elle Mogerman said.
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Mommy is considered one of the most genetically valuable Galapagos tortoises in the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ species survival plan.
She is also the oldest first-time mom of the Western Santa Cruz Galapagos species … READ MORE.