Exciting news has come from the Houston Zoo, where two tortoises have made a significant contribution to their species.
Mr. Pickles, the zoo’s 90-year-old radiated tortoise, and his 53-year-old companion Mrs. Pickles (quite an age gap, but love knows no bounds) recently became parents to three adorable hatchlings.
And the baby tortoises have fittingly spicy names: Dill, Gherkin, and Jalapeño—clearly, Jalapeño is the spicy one.
This is monumental not just for the Pickles family, but for the critically endangered radiated tortoise species. Mr. Pickles, who has lived at the zoo for 36 years, had never fathered offspring before, so staff were surprised when the hatchlings arrived unexpectedly one evening.
The timing couldn’t have been more perfect. As the blog explains, the humid Houston soil is not ideal for the eggs, and without human help, they likely wouldn’t have hatched. The tortoises’ wild population has been severely reduced due to illegal poaching and their naturally low reproduction rates, so successful breeding in captivity is vital to the species’ survival.
Mr. Pickles is especially important, as he is considered one of the most genetically valuable tortoises in the Association of Zoos and Aquariums' Species Survival Plan.
As the zoo put it, “These baby Pickles are a big dill.”
The three new hatchlings will live in the zoo’s Reptile & Amphibian House until they’re large enough to join Mr. and Mrs. Pickles once again.