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A big congrats is in order to the turts at ZSL London Zoo. A couple of them have just given birth to three kids and, in the process, are putting up a good old fight to save their species.
The attraction became home to two female and two male endangered big-headed (rude!) turtles in 2018. The group found a home in the Regent’s Park-adjacent Reptile House after being rescued from smugglers who were trying to smuggle them into Canada disguised as toys. An evil and sneaky move.
The hard-shelled huns are solitary creatures and so were kept separate from each other as they settled into their new accom, but have slowly been spending more and more time in each other's company. The result? Shagging. And some eggs, which hatched in October.
It’s brilliant news for a species that the world is very much at risk of losing.
Big-headed turtles are usually found in the mountainous bits of China and Southeast Asia and got their name because they have heads so large that they can’t retract them into their shells like most other turtle species. Instead, they use head armour, ‘whip-like tails’ and boss energy to defend themselves from predators. Unfortunately those mechanisms don’t work when trying to fight off humans who hunt them for food and to sell into the pet trade. It means that they’ve ended up classified as Critically Endangered on the IUCN’s Red List.
‘We had the expertise at ZSL London Zoo to give this solitary species the specialist care they individually needed, and we’re pleased that this dedicated work has paid off with these three hatchlings,’ says ZSL reptile keeper Kimberley Carter. Big-headed turtles may not be conventionally cute to most people but they represent a vitally important and unique branch of the evolutionary tree and have much to teach us about animal adaption. There is literally no other species like them on earth.’
The three new hatchlings will be hidden away from the public until they get a little older, but visitors can meet one of the original rescued big heads if they head down to the centre in coming weeks. Keepers hope that the turtles’ story will teach us all more about why we should care about the blackmarket wildlife trade.