Nearly 100 years old and just became a mom for the first time: a Galápagos tortoise had 16 babies that could help save her species 👏🏻

Mommy became a mother for the first time at nearly 100 years old.

The Galápagos tortoise has lived at the Philadelphia Zoo since 1932 and had spent 94 years there without having offspring. Paired with Abrazzo, she laid fertile eggs that gave life to 16 healthy hatchlings. After decades without offspring, the arrival of 16 hatchlings marks an unexpected turning point in Mommy’s life.

Now, the 16 newborns are beginning their lives under the care of the Philadelphia Zoo, while Mommy takes on a role that came nearly a century after her birth: mom.