Turtles race to vegetable buffet to mark World Turtle Day

This is the heartwarming moment turtles were treated to a vegetable buffet at a Thai zoo for World Turtle Day.

More than 20 sulcata tortoises raced to the banana leaf where an assorted variety of vegetable and snacks were prepared for the special day in Songkhla Zoo in southern Thailand on May 23.

Footage shows the little one-year-old reptiles slowly making their way to have a bite of the delicious treat at the end of the makeshift 6ft-long ‘running track.’ The even was part of the zoo’s tradition to raise awareness about the creatures during the international celebration of the species.

Zoo chief Wanchai Tanwattana said: ‘There was a clear winner in this running race and he had more vegetables than the others.

‘Some of them ran aimlessly and didn’t reach the end of the track but they were still given their serving of the buffet to celebrate this special occasion.’ The young tortoises were offsprings of the zoo’s four adult breeders – three males and one female aged more than 30-years-old which were bought from out-of-business Dusit zoo.

World Turtle Day was initiated by animal rescue organisation American Tortoise Rescue in 2000 to bring attention to turtles and tortoises and protect their population.