Toledo zoo welcomes 100-year-old tortoise

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — The newest resident of the Toledo Zoo is a 100-year-old dome-shelled Galapagos tortoise that weighs in at 440 pounds.

The tortoise, named Emerson, arrived at the zoo Wednesday night from the San Diego Zoo. He was escorted by Toledo Zoo personnel on his flight to Detroit before being driven to Toledo and uncrated inside a heated shed.

Handlers welcomed him with carrot and sweet potato treats and a neck rub.

The Blade newspaper reports Emerson is the zoo’s first Galapagos tortoise since 1983 when his predecessor, Galopy, was sent to San Diego at the recommendation of the Galapagos Tortoise Species Survival Plan.

Galopy was also a wild-born tortoise and was the much-beloved face of the Toledo Zoo for 32 years.