Baby Galapagos Tortoise at Taronga Western Plains Zoo
Posted on June 14, 2011
A baby Galapagos tortoise hatched on March 19 at the Taronga Western Plains Zoo. It is the first Galapagos tortoise hatched in Australia. The baby's mother is 90-years-old. The tiny baby tortoise now weights 94.8 grams and is just 8cm long. You can see how much smaller the baby tortoise is than an adult in photos here and here on the zoo's Flickr account. The baby will grow very slowly as it matures.
Keeper Addy Watson says, "The hatchling is currently only 0.033% the weight of our largest male. It will take approximately 20 - 25 years for this hatchling to reach full size. At just five years old it will still be only 30cm in length."
The zoo says the baby eats "very small amounts of leaves and chaff as well as some fruit and vegetables once every three days."