Eberhard the Galápagos Tortoise

Origin

Eberhard came to Prague Zoo on September 12, 1996, from Leipzig Zoo, which was then repairing its pavilion and had decided not to keep big tortoises any longer. Nobody will ever know what had happened during his journey, but when he arrived, he was in a sorry state, suffering from hypothermia and almost completely unresponsive. Our zookeepers spent an enormous amount of effort to save him. His treatment and convalescence ended up taking months; and in fact it was not until the year 2001 that we could declare him in good health again! An important milestone in his life came when he moved into the newly erected Pavilion of Big Tortoises in September 1998: there, his health finally rallied. Afterwards, Eberhard gradually turned into one of the stars of a regular Sunday testudinal show.

Another important event for his species was our participation in genetic research conducted by Yale University in 2008. This meant that in 2009, we were finally able to classify Eberhard as belonging to the subspecies Santa-Cruz Galápagos tortoise (Chelonoidis nigra porteri). Until then, we had been worrying that we might not be able to provide Eberhard with a mate. Now we know that his chances are good, as the subspecies from the island of Santa Cruz is the one most commonly found in captivity.

It is going to take us some time to find a female for him, but, fortunately, Eberhard does not mind in the least. He still has plenty of time. Judging by his unflagging active growth, we estimate his age to be 60 years. So in view of the fact that Galápagos giant tortoises live to be more than 150 years old, Eberhard still has one hundred years of active life ahead of him.

Also of note is that Eberhard weighs around 240 kg, and in some 50 years he could reach a weight of 300 kg, a record weight for tortoises.

Temperament
Endowed with a calm and composed temperament, Eberhard has, over recent years, become increasingly conscious of his strength and bulk – which, however, he completely refrains from using to assert himself in an aggressive manner. With people, he is wary at first – and if you try to get too close, Eberhard will often let out a snort and withdraw into his shell. But once you gain his trust, he will let you scratch his neck, his eyes closed in rapture.

His penchant is for apples and carrots – especially for carrots – but he only gets these treats during training, otherwise he would gain too much weight. As with any tortoise, the only way to convince Eberhard to do anything is to sweet-talk him into it – if he gets it into his head that he is being forced to do something, he will, with great tenacity and obstinacy, do the exact opposite. Pull him a little to the right – and he will not only turn back but will shuffle off a little to the left. And if you try to push him forward, he digs in his heels and no one can get him to budge. But for a kind word from his caretaker – or for an apple or a carrot – he will do anything!