Guadalajara Zoo celebrates its first hatching of world’s tiniest turtle

The Guadalajara Zoo has scored a conservation triumph by breeding the world’s smallest turtle successful captivity for the archetypal time.

In precocious August, the zoo announced the commencement of a babe Vallarta mud turtle, a precocious discovered taxon popularly known arsenic casquito de Vallarta. The commencement had occurred astir 2 months earlier, connected June 30.

The hatchling weighed conscionable 2.8 grams and was lone 2 centimeters long, astir the width of an big quality thumb.

This taxon of endangered turtle, Kinosternon vogti, was discovered successful 2018 and is recovered adjacent Puerto Vallarta on the wetlands of the Ameca River, a tributary that divides the occidental Mexican states of Nayarit and Jalisco.

Only astir 300 to 500 remain, according to scientists’ estimates, making it critically endangered.

The casquito turtle is distinguished by its tiny size, with adults reaching conscionable 10.2 centimeters (4 inches) successful length. Males person a diagnostic yellowish spot connected their noses.

The casquito hatchling was 2 cm agelong astatine birth, portion adults turn lone to 10.2 centimeters (4 inches) successful length. Their tiny size makes them charismatic to carnal smugglers. (University of Guadalajara)

As the world’s smallest turtle, the taxon has go a people for amerciable trafficking, expanding its hazard of extinction.

Within the past year, 2 men reportedly disguised arsenic Federal Environmental Protection Agency (Profepa) inspectors stole 55 of the tiny turtles from a assemblage laboratory successful Puerto Vallarta.

Moreover, a important fig of Vallarta mud turtles  person died disconnected owed to municipality enlargement astir Puerto Vallarta, said biologist Ricardo Dávalos, caput of the Guadalajara Zoo’s reptile-amphibian house.

“If we adhd to that the information that it’s a uncommon species, it becomes adjacent much charismatic to traffickers,” helium added. “We cognize that these animals are already being trafficked successful Japan, China and Korea.”

Two years ago, the Guadalajara Zoo received 37 turtles confiscated by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat), an allotment that included 9 fertile females.

AFP’s Ulises Ruiz photographs a Vallarta mud turtle – considered the smallest turtle successful the satellite – aft Mexico’s Guadalajara Zoo achieved the archetypal commencement of the reptile successful captivity.

The Vallarta mud turtle is threatened by amerciable trafficking, terrible situation nonaccomplishment and is… pic.twitter.com/lzUc0lbXnv

— AFP News Agency (@AFP) August 26, 2025

Dávalos said that helium and his squad managed to mate immoderate casquito pairs that unrecorded successful a portion of the herpetarium that has conditions akin to their earthy habitat. The pistillate turtles laid immoderate eggs, which were incubated nether strict somesthesia and humidity controls.

One babe — nicknamed “Crumb” for his diminutive size — hatched. Not each eggs person survived during this process, but six much are presently processing successful the incubator; the incubation play is 120 days.

The Guadalajara Zoo’s breeding programme hopes to 1 time summation the chaotic colonisation of these tiny reptiles. This summer’s commencement marked the archetypal milestone successful that process.

“In the future, we tin see releasing immoderate of these specimens [into the wild] erstwhile we person a harmless spot successful Puerto Vallarta, a spot wherever they’re not successful danger,” Dávalos said.

With reports from Associated Press, Forbes México, El Economista and Telesurvtv.net