The Hatchling Has a Dad Who’s About 134 and Has No Idea It Exists

Goliath, a 517-pound Galápagos tortoise, spent well over a century without becoming a father. In June 2025 that changed. A single egg laid by his mate, Sweet Pea, hatched at Zoo Miami, making Goliath a first-time dad at about 134.¹

The hatchling was also the first Galápagos tortoise ever hatched at the zoo.²³ That matters beyond the novelty, because Galápagos tortoises are classed as endangered. According to NBC News, their numbers were drastically reduced before the 20th century by human exploitation and invasive species, and today they face climate change and habitat loss.²

Most of what is known comes from Zoo Miami’s own statement, as relayed by outlets including Axios, NBC News, NPR and Newsweek.

A very long wait

Goliath is the oldest animal at Zoo Miami. The zoo gives his hatch date as June 15, 1890, so he turned 135 on Father’s Day 2025.¹⁴ His age is an estimate, though. Newsweek reported that official records put his hatch year anywhere from 1885 to 1890.⁶

His résumé is long either way. Goliath arrived at the Bronx Zoo in 1929 and moved to Zoo Miami in 1981. He bred with several females there over the years without producing any offspring until this one.¹⁴

Sweet Pea, the mother, is believed to be somewhere between 85 and 100 years old and has lived at the zoo’s site since 1960.¹⁶ She laid a clutch of eight eggs on January 27. One of them hatched on June 4 after 128 days of incubation, which by Goliath’s standards was a brisk wait.¹²

A healthy hatchling and two unbothered parents

The young tortoise appeared healthy and was moved from the incubator to its own enclosure, where the zoo described it as “active and full of energy.”¹³

It will not be getting parenting tips. In the wild, Galápagos tortoise hatchlings have no further contact with their parents, and the parents don’t know the hatchling exists.¹³

“Both Goliath and Sweet Pea are doing well on their public habitat and are not aware of their newly hatched offspring,” Ron Magill, Zoo Miami’s goodwill ambassador and communications director, said in the zoo’s statement as reported by Axios.¹

So Goliath spent his first Father’s Day, as far as he knew, simply turning 135.

The record question

Zoo Miami applied to Guinness World Records to recognize Goliath as the “Oldest First-Time Father in History,” and Goliath and Sweet Pea together as the “Oldest First-Time Parents in History.”¹³

Magill was not shy about his admiration. “Goliath is my hero, and I am sure he will soon be an inspiration to many others!” he said in a statement reported by NBC News.² He added, in the version Axios carried, that Goliath “is living proof that where there is a will, there is a way and to never give up!”¹

At the time, Axios said it “may be a world record.”¹ A later Good Morning America report says Guinness has since confirmed Goliath as the oldest first-time father for any animal in recorded history.⁷