Meet the seven cute new additions to one of the world’s most endangered turtles.
These Arakan Forest Turtles came out of their shells in a record-setting clutch at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga.
The amphibians, from southeast Asia, are critically endangered as the wild population has decreased by 80 percent in the last 75 years.
They are native to the forests in a mountainous strip of Myanmar and Bangladesh but huge habitat destruction combined with illegal traffickers supplying the pet trade and food markets has seen their numbers dwindle.
The clutch of seven eggs laid at the Tennessee Aquarium all hatched successfully, beating the previous record of five at Zoo Atlanta in 2013.
Aquarium Herpetology Coordinator Bill Hughes said: “The fact that all seven eggs hatched is really great.
“Every individual that hatches is a small victory because it’s one more in the population in human care when their population in the wild is declining.”
The arrival of the lucky seven continues the Aquarium’s streak of success, adding to the zoo and aquarium population.
Last year, the Aquarium hatched its first-ever Arakans, a pair that emerged from a clutch of six eggs.
These hatchlings represented the first addition to the population in human care since 2017.
Bill added: “Having a viable population spread across zoos and aquariums is important.
“Then, if something happened to the last few in the wild, they wouldn’t be totally extinct.
“If we hatch enough babies, hopefully, we do this again next year and have some surplus, we can send them out to other zoos and get them excited about these guys again.”
He continued: “This is a species that you probably don’t know exists, except that we hatched them here.
“You can actually see what they look like moving around rather than just as a picture in a book. For me, at least, that’s very exciting.
“I love books, and I love looking at pictures of rare things in books, but it’s not quite the same effect as seeing one moving around.
“And actually hatching them ourselves is even better.”
Produced in association with SWNS Talker
