Going High-Tech

Do you see what I see? NO! I'm not pregnant. Pardon me while I hate you for a few minutes. Although that was my husband's first assumption, too. Come to think of it, I haven't seen him since I showed him this pic...

What do you see in the photo above? EGGS! Well, technically follicles. They won’t be actual shelled eggs until after fertilization occurs. Three of them are clearly visible in this ultrasound. That’s right, I said ultrasound. They’re not just for mammals anymore. Oh, did I mention who was having the procedure?

Meet Patches.

I thought MY ultrasounds were a drag, but I was never suspended from a bucket. 4th time's the charm, right? NO! I'm really not pregnant. Just messing with you.

Patches is a female Aldabra tortoise. Given her size, it’s safe to assume she’s at least 80 years old, but who knows for sure? She was wild-caught, so she is likely even older than that. Think that’s old? Meet her suitor.

Please ignore my squinty eye. Either I am pretending I'm a pirate, or the flash was incredibly bright. Focus on my pal Al.

This is Big Al. He’s around 150. I love this tortoise, and I’ve been working on a Gal-Pal-For-Al campaign for several years now, so here we go. If Al can get the job done, we’ll have some of these in a few months:

Look at how tiny! And it's 6 months old in this picture! This was taken six years ago, and they're bigger than basketballs now. Another 15 years, and they might be big enough to breed!

Fingers crossed!

 

Hitting the Trifecta

Any zoo or breeding facility that produces one of the three subspecies of Spider Tortoise (pyxis arachnoides) from Madagascar can consider the breeding season season successful. A spectacular year would see the arrival of all three. Last Saturday marked just such a year for my zoo.

The first to hatch this year was the Northern Spider tortoise.

Pyxis arachnoides brygooi, the Northern Spider tortoise

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Then we added a Common Spider tortoise.

Pyxis arachnoides arachnoides, the Common Spider tortoise which, despite its name, is endangered.

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On Saturday, I stopped by the Herpetology department to soak the larger tortoises. While I was there, we checked out the incubator, and who should we spot?

Pyxis arachnoides oblonga, the Southern Spider tortoise

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It’s cause for celebration when one of these species hatches. It’s a banner year that sees all three of them. I removed it from the incubator box and set it up in a container of its own. While I was giving it the first misting, I got the surprise of my life. I saw movement in the incubator box.

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This egg is pipping. The process takes hours. Talk about being in the right place at the right time!

One hind leg out, one foreleg out.

It's sideways in its shell. Its hind leg is on the left, its foreleg is resting on the edge of the eggshell on the right. You can see the dark blotches on its plastron, which is how this species is identified.

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Nearly Wordless Wednesday: Whoops!

The Indian Star tortoise babies. They were having quite the day. Yes, that’s three of them on their backs. Nice.

Really guys?

 

April Fool’s!

So it’s April Fool’s day, and I can’t just let such an occasion go by without posting something. To celebrate Liar’s day, I usually tell someone that I’m pregnant (shut up, SJ!), but I have just moved Squish out of my room after three years, and I’m in no mood to tempt fate. So instead of lying to you, I’ll post the solution to Thursday’s Where’s Waldo post.

Here’s the picture that contains, much to my surprise, not one turtle, but two!

Do you see them? Of course, you do! No?

A little zoom?

How about now?

I bet many of you can see one already. But do you see the second one? Are you ready?

The neck ring on the baby on the left makes it look like a reflection on the water. This is why it took ten years for the researchers to recapture a re-released baby. They are tiny, and their camouflage is excellent!

I know. The one on the left hardly looks like a turtle, but you’ll have to believe me. Here it is out of the water.

The neck ring seems like it would be a dead-giveaway but is instead brilliant camouflage.

Here’s the funny part. The turtle on the left was the one I was actually photographing. The face on the right was a surprise!

Happy April-fool’s-Heather’s-not-pregnant day!

 

Must See To Appreciate!

This week, the zoo welcomed an amazing new addition with the hatching of a Spiny hill turtle. These turtles are critically endangered in the wild, and this hatchling has an incredible story. Its parents were illegally removed from the wild for human consumption and were stuffed in foam crates, along with hundreds of other turtles for export. Before customs could confiscate them, many of the crates collapsed, suffocating the animals inside. The turtles that survived the ordeal were sent to appropriate facilities for rehabilitation. My zoo received five spiny hill turtles, and were the first facility to successfully breed any of the animals from this confiscation. Since then, several more babies have made their appearance.

Heosemys spinosa, the spiny hill turtle. It will spend a few days on damp paper towels as its umbilicus closes. Then it will be ready to go for a swim.

It looks enormous, doesn’t it? Here’s a not-so-close-up:

It's not as big as it looks, is it?

So here’s the really amazing part. Brad, the Lead Keeper, took some measurements.

Every neonate is weighed and measured.

This baby has a maximum carapace (shell) length and width of 63mm. That’s about 2 1/2 inches. Hang onto your hat. The egg shell itself measured a mere 36mm.  You read that right. The baby is almost twice as wide as the egg it was living in. How is that even possible? Like this:

The curve of the carapace (top shell) is incredible, but check out the wrinkles in the plastron (bottom shell)! I love how it has its little nose pulled in. Its face reminds me of Homer Simpson. And those bumpy things on either side are its legs.

And I thought we were cramped when we lived in 900sq ft with two kids!

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special thanks to sj for creating the watermark.

 

Where’s Waldo?

A picture’s worth a thousand words. I try to limit myself to 600 words per post, so I add a few pictures in the hopes that doing so boosts my daily word count. That totally works, right? Anyway, this post was inspired by Cassie who looked for hidden tortoises in yesterday’s post. Because she knew there simply must be one. It was my post, after all.

My zoo works with bog turtles, a species endangered due primarily to habitat loss and collection for the pet trade. The keepers hatch the eggs, grow the babies for a couple of years, and then release them at the site where the eggs were found. When they hatch, bog turtles are the size of a june bug, and it takes them 10 years to reach breeding size (they top out at about 4 inches).

There is a turtle in the picture below. I can see it. Can you? It’s there. I’ll post a close-up this weekend.

Glyptemys muhlenbergii Once you find it, you can't NOT see it. I think. Maybe it's just me. It took me six months to find this tiny turtle in the enclosure at all.

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By my count, this post is about 1200 words long, right?

Wild, crazy update: there are TWO turtles in this picture! All this time, I thought there was only one baby in this enclosure, and when I zoomed,  I discovered a second! Who knows what other surprises are hiding?

 

Gratuitous Belly Button Shots

Remember this?

It’s now this:

One week old. See how much the umbilicus has shrunk? Eventually it will disappear entirely.

The hatchling Indian Star tortoises are growing well. On Wednesday, they had their first soak. This species is from a more arid region. Soaking offers them the opportunity to drink. And to poop. The little guys seemed to enjoy it. Their heads dipped into the water immediately, and they took their first drink.

First drink. For a size comparison, they're in an 11x9 food storage container. Sorry about the wonky angle.

There were occasional mishaps. But don’t worry. The water isn’t deep.

As helpless as a tortoise on its...oh, wait.

Nap time. Everyone is sleepy!

Note the red marks on their shells. Even though each tortoise’s pattern is unique, the colors will shift and change a bit over time. For accuracy of record-keeping, each tortoise is marked with fingernail polish on a different scute (rhymes with “scoot” or “cute”), and the marks are recorded. Scutes are the scales on the shell, and these marks are the easiest way to accurately identify animals in a collection.

I took them out into the sun for some much-appreciated vitamin D, which is essential to good bone development. They have ultraviolet lamps, of course, but nothing beats natural sunlight. Sadly, I have no pictures of this event because I was so busy making sure visitors didn’t pocket one! Maybe next time.

Stay tuned for more updates. I have more photos to share, and it’ still early in hatching season.

 

Nearly Wordless Wednesday: Good News Edition

If you recall, this post left you with a cliffhanger, and I’m not one to leave you hanging forever.

Knock knock! Who's there?Introducing Astrochelys radiata- the second one ever hatched by our zoo

One of the most endangered tortoises in the world

Here’s a picture of one of the parents.

I'm pretty sure this is dad. He's taller than a basketball, and much, much heavier.

The new baby is a bit smaller than its folks.

Yeah, that small.

And now the update you’ve all been waiting for! Can I get a drumroll, please? If you read this post, you know my supervisor at the zoo has been working to raise $2000 to buy desks and chairs for a school in Madagascar. Thanks to readers who forwarded the post all over the internet, we met our goal. In five days. Our total stands at $2443, and all of the money goes to the school. Give yourselves a hand! Thanks to everyone who donated or shared links. Your help will have a direct impact on the lives of 100 children in Madagascar. The baby tortoise featured in this blog is the same tortoise species that the children’s parents are helping to save, which bookends this story beautifully.

And I leave you with one more tortoise belly button.

Notice how this one is an oval instead.

 

Consider Yourself Warned

Too much cuteness is herein contained.

This Wednesday was the best Tortoise Day in the history of such events. Spring is here, and the breeding projects staff have worked for are coming to fruition.

Baby Indian Star tortoise. Notice anything about the neighboring egg?

I got to hold this baby. It was still sticky from the egg. I am in awe of these tiny little creatures.

Too much cuteness! Too much!

The hatching process is called “Pipping,” and it can take days. The babies break through the egg with a little egg tooth on the end of their nose. Once they have broken through, they sit and ponder the universe while absorbing the remains of the yolk sac that has nourished them for months.

Come on out! It's a big, beautiful world out here!

We see you in there!

I like your hat!

Just hatched. Notice how its carapace is flat at the back from being squished up in the egg!

A little bit of tortoise trivia: tortoises have belly buttons as hatchlings.

Baby tortoises have a belly button from being attached to their yolk sac. It will disappear over time.

I went back to the zoo on Thursday to try again for some pics that didn’t work out, and two more babies were ready to  meet the world.

Technically still in the egg, right?

And who is this special one? Stay tuned.

Coming soon to a Nearly Wordless Wednesday near you!

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UPDATE: As of now, we have raised $1400 for desks and benches for the school in Madagascar. Only $600 to go! Thank you for your help in spreading the word on this project that will change children’s lives. If you missed the post, you can find it here.

 

Happy Tortoise Day: Bonus Edition

Each Wednesday, I spend my day happily up to my elbows in tortoise turds as I volunteer in the reptile department of my zoo. It’s one of the best things I do all week. Look at the photo below (keeping in mind that it’s about three times larger than life). What’s not to love? Even when it pees on me.

One of my charges. This guy (gal?) is about the size of a golf-ball . Photo courtesy of Phil Colclough

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You may already be familiar with my supervisor, Michael, who was featured in the revised edition of a wonderful children’s book. In addition to signing autographs and generally being awesome, he works closely with the Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA), which has undertaken a unique project. Tortoises in Madagascar are rapidly disappearing due to illegal collection for meat and for the pet trade. TSA has worked out a partnership with Antsakoamasy, a village in Madagascar. The villagers will protect the ever-dwindling population of radiated tortoises, and TSA will build a school for their children. The ultimate win:win.

The school is nearing completing and is set to open in March. What they need now are tables, benches, and school supplies for their students. Here is the exciting part. Furniture for the entire school will cost only about $1800 US dollars, and a only a few hundred more would purchase the necessary school supplies.  This is where you come in. Michael is headed to Madagascar with TSA in a few weeks to teach villages how to properly care for confiscated tortoises until the animals can be returned to the wild. I would love be able to help raise the funds before he goes.

My friends, this is an achievable goal. Every dollar will add up quickly. I think we can knock it out of the ballpark and help these kids whose families are working to help protect this precious and endangered animal.

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.Important update to this project on February 29.

Adult radiated tortoise cooling off in the mid-day sun. Photo courtesy of Michael Ogle

Malagasy kids saying hey, photo courtesy of Michael Ogle