09/23/2026
Imagine living in the same zoo for more than 90 years… and then, at nearly 100 years old, becoming a mother for the very first time.
That’s what happened to “Mommy,” a Western Santa Cruz Galápagos tortoise at the Philadelphia Zoo.
She arrived at the zoo in 1932 and spent decades there. Then, in 2020, another tortoise named Abrazzo arrived as part of a breeding program. He was also close to 100 years old.
At first, nothing happened. Mommy laid several clutches of eggs, but they did not produce viable eggs.
Then, in November 2024, everything changed. She laid her first viable clutch, and on February 27, 2025, the first baby began to hatch. Over the following weeks, seven tiny tortoises emerged.
But the story didn’t end there.
A second successful clutch later produced nine more babies, bringing the total to 16 by that summer.
The first hatchlings weighed only around 70 to 80 grams, while adult Galápagos tortoises can weigh hundreds of pounds.
Before these births, only 44 Western Santa Cruz tortoises lived in U.S. zoos.
So after more than nine decades at one zoo, Mommy became the oldest known first-time mother of her species in any U.S. zoo.
