18 December, Vitebsk /Diana Kurilo - BELTA/. Central Asian tortoises at the Vitebsk Zoo, defying the frost and the Mayan prediction of the end of the world, have laid eggs for the first time, the zoo director Irina Orlova told a BELTA correspondent. Normally, in nature, the romantic period in the tortoises' relationship falls between February and August. Pregnancy lasts two months, after which the female lays from two to six eggs. In terrarium conditions, tortoises do lay eggs, albeit rarely. And now, at the Vitebsk Zoo, such a demographic miracle (especially when it's minus 18 outside) has occurred with a pair living here for about five years: today, two tiny tortoise eggs were found in the sand in the terrarium. The parent tortoises, having spent their entire lives in captivity, did not even bother to bury the eggs in the sand, so Irina Orlova entrusted the "incubation" process to an incubator. As the director explained, one should expect additions to the tortoise family no earlier than February, or even April, because the incubation process depends on temperature, with different sources indicating periods from 60 to 120 days. The Vitebsk Zoological Park was founded on 30 March 1992, based on the Animal Theatre that existed in the city. Currently, over 70 species of animals, numbering more than 1,000 individuals, are kept here on an area of 1.3 hectares. In addition to Central Asian tortoises, the zoo houses marsh and red-eared sliders – none of them have yet delighted with additions to the family. -0-

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