Metro Richmond Zoo introduces new Galapagos tortoise experience to educate public on endangered species
METRO RICHMOND ZOO, Va. (WWBT) - Meet Septimius and his brother Octavius, the Metro Richmond Zoo’s banana-leaf-loving superstars.
Metro Richmond Zoo introduces new tortoise experience.
“We are very privileged to work with these critters every single day and we want to give people a little taste of that as well,” Ed Grimes, the reptile keeper at the zoo, said.
For $50 a person, the Metro Richmond Zoo is offering turtle-ly awesome 30 minute experiences with these Galapagos tortoises. The largest tortoise species in the world and one of the longest living land animals, living for around 200 years.
“Our friend here [Octavius] was hatched in 1981 and our friend here [Septimius] was hatched in 1976,” Grimes said.
Metro Richmond Zoo introduces new tortoise experience.
While they have a hard exterior, they’ll leave you shell-shocked with their gentle demeanor taking any opportunity get affection, eat out of your hand and snap picture or two.
“I’m hoping that through these encounters we can kind of show people about their internal lives. They’re a lot smarter than people give them credit for,” Grimes said. “There’s a lot of scientific research coming out that shows they’re capable of complex thoughts, emotions and things like that, which we could have told people from just getting to know these guys.”
Metro Richmond Zoo introduces new tortoise experience.
This comes off the wave of excitement generated by their other experiences like with Poppy the Pygmy Hippo, which attracted people from all over the world educating them on the endangered species.
They hope to do the same with Octavius and Septimius as the Galapagos tortoise is also endangered.
Metro Richmond Zoo introduces new tortoise experience.
“Since it is primarily due to us, over harvesting, we introduced predators to their islands that weren’t there before and we took a lot of their land. So, without our help, without our assistance they’re not going to be able to pick those numbers back up and breed quick enough,” Grimes said.
