The San Diego Zoo announced the hatching of 41 endangered Indian narrow-headed softshell turtles Monday after a 21-year effort to breed them.
With this accomplishment, the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance became the first accredited conservation group in North America to successfully breed and hatch the species.
Three adult specimens have been living at the zoo for more than 20 years, but breeding takes time, as “the turtles can take close to 10 years to even reach sexual maturity.”
The zoo first acquired two turtles in 1997, unsure if they had even received a breeding pair.
“When you’re comparing two animals that you’ve never seen before and there’s very little information about them, it is hard to determine if you think their tail is indicating male or female,” Kim Gray, curator of herpetology and ichthyology at the San Diego Zoo, told the San Diego Union-Tribune.
The zoo eventually caught wise to the fact that both turtles were female, leading them to acquire a male turtle in 2001. After that, zookeepers had to wait for the turtles to mate.
In June, zookeepers found four clutches; 11 of the healthiest-looking eggs were incubated, leading to 11 hatchings in August.
In early September, zookeepers discovered that they had missed a clutch when they saw 30 more tiny turtles in and around the habitat during maintenance work.
All 41 have now been moved indoors to prevent predation from both zoo animals and local birds.
“We have been focused on caring for these turtles for a very long time, and part of that care is to gain a greater understanding of the species’ natural history. With the knowledge we gain here at the Zoo, we can better assist our partners in India to help this essential species thrive in their native habitat,” Ms. Gray, the Union-Tribune reported.
Ms. Gray hopes that the summer hatchings indicate future breeding success.
“I think this is just the start of them reproducing for us,” she told the Union-Tribune.
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