A 140-year-old African spurred tortoise is now a proud Momma to eight tiny babies that had hatched four days ago.
Photographer Attila Balazs captured this amazing shot of one baby hitching a ride on top of mom’s head.
Turtles and tortoises can continue to reproduce at very old ages. However, none of the stories in the media mentioned that the mother tortoise at the Nyiregyhaza Animal Park was 140 years old, which seems like it would have been an interesting fact to mention if it had been the case.
Wikipedia says, “The lifespan of an African spurred tortoise is about 50–150 years, though they can live much longer.” And it adds, “The oldest in captivity is 54 years, located in the Giza Zoological Gardens, Egypt, 1986.” That sounds more correct.
Biologically speaking, it’s not impossible for a tortoise mother to be 140 years old.
