The pampered turtles were born in a series of hatches this year to Mommy and Abrazzo, a couple that is estimated to both be about 100 years old. Mommy arrived at the zoo in 1932, but had not produced offspring until Abrazzo was brought in nearly five years ago from Riverbanks Zoo and Garden in Columbia, South Carolina. The 16 are her first progeny.

The Philadelphia Zoo just welcomed a new generation of slow-moving royalty — and gave them the red carpet treatment. Sixteen

A set of 16 critically endangered western Santa Cruz tortoises was born to two century-old parents at the Philadelphia Zoo over the spring and summer, spurring hope for the fate of the species