Unhatched baby turtle Cordelia goes viral: “She never got to see the world, but at least the world got to see her”

I was blown away by how this little turtle made millions of people feel something so profound.

I began growing my TikTok account as a science communicator in 2022, sharing my experiences as a researcher studying reproductive failure in turtles and tortoises under the handle: @turtle_eggsplorer. I am humbled to now have over 150,000 followers sharing this amazing journey with me.

I have built a special “tradition” with my viewers over this time – Although I normally work with failed, undeveloped eggs (i.e., eggs with no embryonic development that failed to hatch), on occasion, I receive failed eggs with developed embryos in them. For me these, were always such incredibly touching moments. I wanted the world to feel that too, accompanied with the message of the importance of my research and why turtles and tortoise need our help.

Therefore, I would ask the public to give a meaningful name to these unhatched turtles. So that we can always remember them and the message they stand for, for the future generations of baby turtles and tortoises.

One day, I opened an unhatched critically endangered Hawksbill turtle egg from the D’Arros Research Centre, revealing one of the loveliest turtles I have ever seen. Curled around its little yolk sac, forever asleep, viewers voted for the name “Cordelia” a Welsh name meaning ‘heart of the sea’*1. Cordelia’s message has amassed a staggering +9 million views on TikTok, many of the thousands of comments expressed how they have been brought to tears by Cordelia’s sweet disposition and the meaning she carries: If we want less turtles to have Cordelia’s fate, we need to better understand hatching failure and improve overall conservation efforts of turtles and tortoises.

Curled away in her egg, forever asleep, she never got to see the world, but at least the world got to see her.

*1 Please note that we do not know whether Cordelia is a male or female, in fact it is extremely difficult to sex turtle/tortoise hatchlings without invasive procedures.