After years of waiting, rare turtles have bred 41 hatchlings at the San Diego Zoo

In a first for North America, an endangered species of turtles has bred at the San Diego Zoo.

Over the summer, staff at the zoo welcomed 41 hatchlings from the Indian narrow-headed softshell turtle species, which is native to South Asia. It makes the zoo the first accredited organization in North America to hatch and raise the species.

Three Indian narrow-headed softshell turtles have been at the zoo for more than 20 years. All that time, zoo staff had been hoping they would one day reproduce.