PREVIEW

Three 29-year-old Galápagos giant tortoises embarked on a new course of weight training at London Zoo to mark World Reptile Awareness Day (Monday 21 October).

Unlike human weight training, there wasn’t a dumbbell in sight for the tortoises – their weight training is about getting the gentle giants to be weighed as part of their regular health monitoring.

Regularly weighing London Zoo's inhabitants is one of many ways zookeepers monitor their health, with weight being an important indicator of physical wellbeing. Zookeepers employ a tactic called station training: a process where the tortoises are trained to plod over to a chosen area, and Dolly, Polly, and Priscilla – some of the conservation zoo's slowest-moving residents – were guided onto their weighing board with the help of brightly coloured traffic cones.

Zookeeper Jamie Mitchell said: "Today, Dolly, Polly and Priscilla were weighed for the first time using our new station training process using these coloured traffic cones.. Whenever a new object is introduced into their home, it can take a while for them to feel comfortable with it, so regular training is key for us to familiarise them with it, and ensure we can keep a constant eye on their health."

Training ensures that the giant tortoises and other animals across the Zoo are voluntarily participating in their physical assessments and veterinary operations, with as little keeper interaction as possible.

Tortoises have played a very interesting part in the history of natural science and ZSL - the almost 200-year-old conservation charity which runs London Zoo. When Charles Darwin, who was an early fellow of ZSL, visited the Galápagos in 1835, he learnt of variations in the tortoises from different islands. Later, these observations would help him form his revolutionary new theory of 'natural selection'.

The balmy 27-degree warmth of Giants of Galapagos makes it the perfect destination to explore at London Zoo this October half-term. Visitors can meet Dolly, Polly and Priscilla as they wander their island home, and learn how tiny tortoise hatchlings grow into the world's largest tortoises.