Kid Territory:Critters: The Oldest Animals in the Zoo
Chips makes balancing this apple on her nose look easy!
Who doesn’t like their neck scratched? Chips has her keepers well trained!
Back in 1968 Chips was taught how to shake hands. She’s still willing to shake, as long as she can get some neck scratching in too!
Zoo
name: Chips
Species: Galápagos
tortoise
Location: San Diego Zoo's Reptile Mesa
Her story
If you want to see the very oldest animals at the Zoo, head over to the Galápagos tortoise yard. Many of the residents arrived as adults back in the 1920s, so they are probably over 100 years old! Their keepers say that every tortoise has an individual personality, and Chips is one of their favorites. It’s easy to spot Chips. At nearly 300 pounds (136 kilograms) she is one of the biggest tortoises, and she has a red “9" painted on her back. These numbers help the keepers and vets easily identify the animals. Male tortoises get white numbers (we use refrigerator paint) and females get red fingernail polish. One of the keepers jokes, "That’s because the male tortoises would never wear red fingernail polish!"
One talented gal
Chips is one of the only tortoises with a name. She got her name due to her chipped carapace, the top part of her shell. Chips is also special because she does “tricks.” Back in 1968, one of the keepers realized that Chips loved to feel water on her throat. She’d stand in front of sprinklers with her neck stretched out! When keepers cleaned the tortoise yard she followed them around, begging to get squirted and then scratched on the underside of her neck. When she felt water on her neck she stretched her neck up higher and higher. She made swimming motions with her front feet, raising each foot off the ground, higher and higher. So for fun and enrichment (for both animal and human), one keeper decided to teach Chips how to "shake hands." When a foot came up the keeper said, "shake hands" and gave her a favorite food, which is any red fruit. This is how she learned to shake hands on cue. And since she was such a good pupil, the keeper also taught her to open her mouth on cue. This came in handy once when Chips was ill. It was very easy to medicate her—the keeper could ask her to open her mouth and then pop the pills right down her throat!
What an entertainer!
When one of the keepers is out in the yard with the tortoises, and our guests are watching, he claims that Chips knows how to balance an apple on her nose. While Chips stands there, the keeper scratches her neck. Once her neck is stretched out, he sets an apple on the top of her nose, then walks away. Our guest are amazed at this balancing feat, not realizing that Chips doesn’t even know the apple is there! But once Chips figures out that the scratching session is over, she pulls her head back into her shell. The apple falls off, Chips eats the apple, and the crowd applauds. Enrichment for everyone!
Where can you see her?
Chips and the rest of the tortoises live in a big yard behind the Zoo’s Reptile House. If they aren’t outside, that means they are inside their warm barn. The barn is where they spend the evenings, and stay during cooler weather.
More
Animal Bytes:
Galápagos
Tortoise
San Diego Zoo:
Reptile Mesa
Do You Know?: What
is Enrichment?
Job Profiles: Taking
Care of Animals
