Baby tortoise babies have been discovered in The Galapagos Islands for the first time in 100 years.
Remember that huge turtle from The Neverending Story that you would have sacrificed your childhood to ride? That was basically a Galapagos tortoise, a species of turtle that has been on the verge of extinction for a century.
New hatchlings were discovered recently on the island of Pinzon, which shows promise for the endangered species since there are currently only about 500 of them living on Pinzon.
READ MORE: The World’s Only White Whale
Apparently the island of Pinzon is overrun by black rats, which have been eating all the turtle babies for the past century, but this new group of surviving hatchlings is a really good sign for biodiversity in The Galapagos.
If these tortoises survive, they could grow over five feet long, weigh more than 500 pounds, and live more than 100 years.
The moral of this story is, it isn’t too late to fulfill your dream of riding on the back of a huge, fricken turtle.
[ via ] [ via ]