Galapagos albino tortoise born for the first time in chronicles at a Swiss zoo

She has white skin and red eyes: the baby born in May is the first white Galapagos giant tortoise ever observed, in captivity or in the wild.

Visitors to the Tropiquarium Zoo in Servion, a few kilometers from Lausanne, were able to see the albino turtle up close for the first time today.

“We were blessed by the gods,” said park owner Philip Morel, noting a small group of students gathered behind the window of the aquarium where these turtles live. The turtle is only one month old, weighs about 50 grams and fits in the palm of one hand.

The Galapagos giant tortoise (Chelonodis nigra), whose life expectancy reaches as high as two centuries, is a species considered “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. It is estimated that about 23,000 turtles live in the archipelago.

Alfalfa is a genetic disease characterized by a lack of pigment in the skin and eyes. In animals it may be accompanied by blindness or deafness. This disease has never been observed in these turtles, whose skin and cauliflower are usually dark in color.

The park owner believes that in the wild an albino turtle would only survive for a few weeks, because its white skin would attract predators. But he believes that in the zoo he will be able to grow without problems.

“She is more active than the other,” commented his son, Thomas Morel, pointing to the park’s other newborn, who is black.

The only question mark now for park officials is the sex of the little one.

The birth of small captive turtles is considered an “extraordinary event” for another reason: adult giant tortoises reach up to 200 kg and due to their size are difficult to reproduce: only 2% of mating results in the birth of young. Only three zoos around the world – two of them in Switzerland – have given birth to such turtles to date.