Photo: Two baby terrapins now have very soft shells and are staying in the background for the time being. The first reproduction of this species in European zoos is the result of fifteen years of efforts by the team of curator Peter Velenský. Photo by Miroslav Bobek, Prague Zoo
Prague Zoo is celebrating an extraordinary breeding success. Curator Peter Velenský’s team was able to breed extremely delicate terrapins. Two cubs of these mushroom-eating reptiles hatched here as the first ever in a zoo on the entire continent. Until recently, they were even considered untouchable by the world.
The path to the cubs was thorny.
“I can say without exaggeration that fifteen years of our efforts are behind the breeding,” says reptile curator Petr Velenský. “We received the first three females in April 2008. It was only in 2014 that we refined the conditions of the terrarium in Velemlokárium for these mushroom-eating, stress-prone, and psychologically unstable turtles to a level that we and the turtles were satisfied with. In the same year, a supposed male also arrived, but he soon turned out to be the fourth female in our breeding,” he describes.
While the four females thrived in the exhibit, which mimics the cold mountain environment of the Southeast Asian tropics, the male was nowhere to be found, especially because the Prague Zoo is the only one in Europe that keeps this species. Therefore, the garden spread the search all over the world. It was not until 2020 that the Prague Zoo received information about a suitable individual at the Taipei Zoo in Taiwan. But even then the vicissitudes did not end.
“We have a warm relationship with the Taipei Zoo – after all, our pair of loggerheads come from it – but the coveted male terrapin came to the zoo there as a confiscated animal. His journey to us was therefore complicated by the legislative process. After a very difficult handling of the administration and transport, which this species does not tolerate well, the male arrived with us only in December 2022,” Velenský continues.
Immediately after the end of the quarantine, the male began courtship. At the end of March this year, one of the females laid a clutch of eggs in the nest pile, which she carefully guarded. In addition to the unusual diet, another peculiarity of these turtles is the parental care of the eggs. On June 4, two small turtles hatched from them, and they remain in the background for the time being. However, visitors can observe a group of adults in Velemlokário.
According to the IUCN Red List, leatherback turtles are an endangered species, and even critically endangered in China. In addition to the loss of the natural environment, the cause is also illegal trade on Asian markets. Successful reproduction at the Prague Zoo is therefore a very important undertaking. If breeding is successful, the emerging Prague methodology can also help other breeding institutions in breeding.