October 18, 2015
Contributed Art/Garden State Tortoise
Two Western Hermann's tortoises rescued in New Jersey.
A remarkable, bite-sized story hatched out Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, last week after two rare Western Hermann's tortoises were born conjoined and faced death if not for the intervention of an expert.
Chris Leon, a breeder who runs Garden State Tortoise, spotted the troubled siblings as they struggled to climb out of their egg. The tortoises, who could fit together in one palm, shared the same yolk sack and couldn't get their bearings, according to a post on the group's Facebook page.
Leon typically doesn't like to intervene, but he knew he would have to perform an operation to save the two tortoises.
The rescue mission is documented in the video below, which quickly went viral and shows how Leon used a thread to safely separate the reptiles.
