A spiny tortoise hatched in the Prague Zoo. Her ancestors almost ended up on a plate
“The freshly hatched spiny tortoise cub is extremely interesting in its appearance – at first glance, by the fact that it looks completely different from its parents,” describes the fresh rare addition of reptile curator Petr Velenský.
“While the adult spiny tortoise has a smooth shell, the young has three defensive lines of spines on the shell. Females usually lay only one egg, and because the young are soft and could have been an easy target for predators, their carapace is equipped with very pointed spines. These then disappear during adolescence. It is a truly unique adaptation of the protection of young. “
Breeding is not easy
The spiny tortoise is an endangered species, mainly due to mass hunting for meat. The three-week-old chick now weighs less than 50 grams and the breeders take care of it in the background.
“Creating conditions for successful breeding is not easy. In the wild, she lives alone in the mountain streams of Southeast Asia and does not like the heat. Egg incubation is also difficult. They should be stored at an alternating temperature between 24 and 29 degrees Celsius. The embryo happens almost 4 times and dies if the optimal conditions are disturbed, ”curator Velenský explained the months of the difficulties of breeding.
Parents live in seclusion
Prague Zoo acquired spiny tortoises in 2002 from a confiscated consignment from a ship in Hong Kong that transported the animals to China and Macao. Ten years later, the Prague Zoo became the first garden to reproduce these rescued individuals.
“Visitors can watch these turtles in the pavilion of beasts and reptiles. These are the young from 2012, who are more accustomed to the presence of man, we keep their parents in complete peace in the background of the Indonesian jungle pavilion, “says Petr Velenský.