Sea Life Sanctuary Produces First Turtle Babies
A new Turtle Sanctuary at Birmingham’s National Sea Life Centre has produced its first off-spring…. two unusual turtle tots the size of 50 pence pieces.
The baby red-bellied short-necked turtles hatched out overnight after an incubation of exactly 50 days.
Another four eggs laid at the same time may hatch out over the next few days.
The hatchlings are great news for international efforts to generate captive bred stock of endangered freshwater turtles for future reintroduction programmes.
“We opened our Sanctuary in May and it’s been an anxious wait for the first babies,” admitted curator Graham Burrows.
“We’re sure these two will be the first of many babies of several different species,” he added.
The red-bellied short-necked variety hail from New Guinea and Northern Australia.
Though not rare as yet they may soon become a target for traders seeking to meet a huge demand in Asia for turtle meat.
Many Asian species have already been decimated, leading to other species in other parts of the world – especially North America – coming under threat.
The newly hatched red-bellied infants are already attracting a great deal of attention in their special nursery tank, where they will be fed on a diet of tiny shrimps, worms and snails.
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