Galápagos Tortoise in Miami celebrates first Father's Day on 135th birthday
Zoo Miami submitted an application to the Guinness Book of World Records to recognize Goliath as the "Oldest First-Time Father in History" and Sweat Pea and Goliath as the "Oldest First-Time Parents in History."
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FILE: A Galapagos tortoise who was flown to Australia from Germany several months ago to meet her new boyfriend marked her first Halloween in a new country by chowing down on a jack-o’-lantern pumpkin. Footage released by the Australian Reptile Park on Oct. 29 shows Estrella munching on the pumpkin and some hibiscus flowers.
MIAMI – Zoo Miami is celebrating a possible world record after Goliath, the Galápagos Tortoise, became a first-time dad right before his 135th birthday.
Goliath's official birthday on the island of Santa Cruz was recorded on June 15, 1890. The giant tortoise arrived in the U.S. in 1929. After a more than 50-year stay at the Bronx Zoo, he has been at Zoo Miami since 1981.
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According to Zoo Miami, this big guy has never fathered any offspring before now. He bred with several females but never sired an offspring.
A newly hatched Galapagos Tortoise, the offspring of Goliath and Sweet Pea at Zoo Miami.
(Zoo Miami)
Sweet Pea, a tortoise believed to be between 85 and 100 years old, finally made Goliath a papa after more than a century. After 128 days of incubation, one egg out of a clutch of eight hatched on June 4.
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Zoo Miami said this hatch is a first on several levels, including the first Galápagos tortoise hatched at the Zoo.
Zoo Miami said it submitted an application to the Guinness Book of World Records to recognize Goliath as the "Oldest First-Time Father in History" and Sweat Pea and Goliath as the "Oldest First-Time Parents in History."
While Zoo Miami shared some cute "Daddy and Me" photos of the first-time dad and his little one, the Zoo said the new parents were unaware of their new offspring.
FILE IMAGE: A young girl leans up against nearly five hundred pounds of tortoise in the world's largest tortoise colony at the North Miami Zoo, Miami, Florida, 1946.
(Photo by Underwood Archives/Getty Images / Getty Images)
In the wild, hatchlings are on their own from the moment they emerge from the shell and never see their parents again. The little tortoise has been moved to a separate enclosure where it is "active and full of energy," according to Zoo Miami.
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, a Seychelles giant tortoise is the oldest living tortoise at 191 years old. The tortoise, named Jonathan, lives on the remote South Atlantic island of St. Helena.