Rare turtles have bred 41 hatchlings at the San Diego Zoo The Indian narrow-headed softshell turtle hatchlings are small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. But once they're fully grown, the can be over three feet long.

Rare turtles have bred 41 hatchlings at the San Diego Zoo

Rare turtles have bred 41 hatchlings at the San Diego Zoo

Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1127158945/1127158946" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

The Indian narrow-headed softshell turtle hatchlings are small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. But once they're fully grown, the can be over three feet long.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Good morning. I'm Leila Fadel. Forty-one tiny endangered turtles hatched at the San Diego Zoo this week. The Indian narrow-headed softshell turtle hatchlings are small enough to fit in the palm of your hand but, once they're fully grown, can be over three feet long. Before they hatch, scientists were concerned that the three turtles at the zoo hadn't laid eggs in two decades. But now there are 41 brand-new ones, bright-eyed, floppy-finned and ready to take on life as a turtle.

Copyright © 2022 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.