Why Are They Called Spider Tortoises? The Answer Might Surprise You.mp4

Learn all about these tiny tortoises from Madagascar.

Transcript

00:00Hey everybody, do you want to talk about a really cool tortoise that lives on an island?

00:10I'm not talking about this big girl back here, I'm talking about this little one.

00:17So this little guy right here, he's called a spider tortoise, and they're from the island of Madagascar.

00:23And they're called spider tortoises, he may not look like it now,

00:26when they're adults, their shells resemble a spider web, and that's how they got their name.

00:39So as you can see, this guy is pretty small, he fits in the palm of my hand, but like I said, he's just a hatchling.

00:46So the adults will actually get about the size of a baked potato, so that's about 6 to 8 inches long.

00:56So in the wild, these guys are mainly grazers, grazing on dry grasses, and occasionally maybe some cactus.

01:03But here at the zoo, they get a wide variety of foods, ranging from all kinds of produce like romaine and dandelion greens.

01:10And occasionally they'll get some fruits too, like berries or strawberries.

01:14So these guys are critically endangered, and on top of that, they only lay one egg at a time.

01:33And it takes 6 whole months for these guys to incubate.

01:36And here at Hogle Zoo, we do have one breeding pair of spider tortoises, and we hope to increase the population.

01:42I think they're up for the challenge, and so are we.