Galapagos tortoises walk across zoo to new home
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London Zoo's hosted a Grand Prix with a difference, a race, or a walk, between its three giant female tortoises. Their prize, new luxury home with its own pools, special vegetation and an environment to make them feel like they were back in the Galapagos. They're under starter's orders but they're not going anywhere fast. It's not quite the Kentucky Derby or the Grand National but these giant tortoises from the Galapagos are prepared to give this a go. On more a walk than a sprint, sisters Polly, Dolly and Pricilla were encouraged on their way. The 26-year-old tortoises have been trained to walk to their own coloured cones, so those watching could keep a tally of who was winning each leg. ZSL's reptile curator Benjamin Tapley says the walk wasn't because they needed the exercise, rather a gentle way to get the animals into their new accommodation. In tortoise years the sisters are in their prime, with most of the species living to one hundred years old. Dolly, Polly and Pricilla were all part of a captive breeding programme at Zurich Zoo in Germany.