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On this Father’s Day, June 15th, Zoo Miami’s oldest animal will be celebrating his 135th birthday! His name is “Goliath,” and he is a Galapagos tortoise that weighs 517 pounds! Up until this prior week, he had not fathered any offspring. That changed when after 128 days of incubation, one egg out of a clutch of 8 that was laid January 27th, successfully hatched on June 4th! Not only is this the first offspring for Goliath, but it is also the first time in the history of Zoo Miami that a Galapagos tortoise has hatched, making this an historic event on multiple levels!
Goliath’s official record has him hatching out on the island of Santa Cruz in the Galapagos on June 15th, 1890. He arrived at the Bronx Zoo on July 23rd, 1929, and finally came to Zoo Miami on July 30th, 1981. During his time at Zoo Miami, he had bred with several different females but had never successfully sired an offspring.
The mother is “Sweet Pea,” and she arrived at the Crandon Park Zoo on Key Biscayne, Florida as an adult in 1960, indicating that she is between 85-100 years old…