Pickle bundles of joy! Houston Zoo's 90-year-old tortoise becomes a dad
Mr. Pickles, a 90-year-old radiated tortoise, is the oldest animal at the Houston Zoo - yet he has become a first-time father to three little Pickles.
The trio of new tortoises have been named Dill, Gherkin, and Jalapeño.
Mr. Pickles is the most genetically valuable radiated tortoise in the Association of Zoos and Aquariums' (AZA) Species Survival Plan (SSP). He has been at the Zoo for 36 years and has been with his companion, Mrs. Pickles, since she arrived in 1996.
The young tortoises will remain behind the scenes in the Reptile and Amphibian House until they are big enough to safely join their parents.
The new hatchlings came as a surprise when a herpetology keeper happened upon Mrs. Pickles as the tortoise was laying her eggs at closing time.
The animal care team quickly went to work uncovering the eggs and getting them to the safety of the Reptile & Amphibian House.
The soil in Houston isn't hospitable to the Madagascar native tortoises, and it's unlikely the eggs would have hatched on their own if the keeper hadn't been in the right place at the right time. Radiated tortoises are critically endangered from over-collection for the illegal pet trade and are known to produce few offspring.
By visiting the Zoo, guests are helping save wild animals in Madagascar as a portion of each Zoo membership and admission goes toward helping the Zoo's partners on the island re-plant wildlife habitat to save animals in the wild.
