Critically endangered tortoise hatches for first time ever at Denver Zoo

Lauren Penington, The Denver Post on Jun 11, 2025

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DENVER — The Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance welcomed its first-ever African pancake tortoise hatchling last month, zoo officials announced Tuesday.

The baby will join four other pancake tortoises in the Denver Zoo’s habitat, including her mom, Waffles, and three males named Short-Stack, Denny and Flapjack, zoo officials said in the announcement on Facebook.

Pancake tortoises are critically endangered in the wild and their populations continue to decline, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species.

“She might be tiny for now, but her role in conservation is huge,” zoo officials wrote on Facebook. “…this marks the first successful breeding and hatching at DZCA.”

Zookeepers on the Denver Zoo’s animal ambassador team discovered the egg in the tortoise habitat last December, according to the announcement.

They carefully transported it to the Tropical Discovery building and incubated it for six months until the baby cracked through the eggshell on May 23, zoo officials said.

Zoo officials said the tortoises largely live behind the scenes, but visitors might be able to see and learn about them at Ambassador Carts throughout the summer.

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