Sometimes all it takes to get a jaded writer to believe in the world again is a cute baby tortoise.
The baby Burmese star tortoise you see above was recently escaped its egg at the Toronto Zoo.
According to the Toronto Zoo’s Facebook page, the event marks the first time a Burmese star tortoise has been successfully hatched in Canada. It’s also one of the few times this particular species of endangered tortoise has hatched in North America. The hatchling came from the only fertile egg in a batch of eight. It took 135 days to incubate its egg.
For the time being, the tortoise will return to the incubation chamber to ensure that it gets through what is usually a difficult time for tortoises. However, once it’s relatively independent and can feed on its own, the little guy will be transferred to a nursery tank in the Indo-Malayan pavilion, at which point visitors will be able to see him.
It doesn’t appear that the Toronto Zoo has given him or her a name yet, so why not send them some suggestions over Twitter? After all, a handsome tortoise deserves a handsome name. [via Facebook and Toronto Star]
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Igor Bonifacic is the managing editor of Toronto Standard. Follow him on Twitter.
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