--- title: Tortoise Eats Salad on Birthday at Fort Wayne Childrens Zoo description: Tortoise eats a salad on 53rd birthday at Fort Wayne Childrens Zoo canonical: https://time.com/4049177/norbert-tortoise-birthday-salad/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-24T21:13:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:46:57.957Z og:title: See Norbert the Tortoise Eat a Salad on His 53rd Birthday og:description: Tortoise eats a salad on 53rd birthday at Fort Wayne Childrens Zoo og:url: https://time.com/4049177/norbert-tortoise-birthday-salad/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See Norbert the Tortoise Eat a Salad on His 53rd Birthday twitter:description: Tortoise eats a salad on 53rd birthday at Fort Wayne Childrens Zoo twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # See Norbert the Tortoise Eat a Salad on His 53rd Birthday  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Sep 24, 2015 9:13 PM UTC  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Sep 24, 2015 9:13 PM UTC At the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo in Indiana, an Aldabra giant tortoise named Norbert celebrated his 53rd birthday Wednesday by digging into a large salad with sweet potatoes and cucumbers.  Fort Wayne Children's Zoo  Fort Wayne Children's Zoo  Fort Wayne Children's Zoo After photos of the celebration were uploaded to Facebook, many users posted comments asking why the tortoise was crying, which prompted the zoo to clarify that the reptile was not just getting sentimental about growing old or because he was eating a salad instead of a birthday cake; the tears are from saline drops that are administered by his keepers so that his eyes stay clean and moisturized. Besides eating vegetables, the giant tortoise also enjoys mud baths, neck rubs with baby oil, “sprinkler time” — in which “he sits and lets the water hit him,” according to an article on the zoo’s website entitled “Norbert’s Favorite Things.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4049177/norbert-tortoise-birthday-salad/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4049177/norbert-tortoise-birthday-salad/"},"headline":"See Norbert the Tortoise Eat a Salad on His 53rd Birthday","datePublished":"2015-09-24T21:13:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:46:57.957Z","description":"Looks like the treat really brought him out of his shell","url":"https://time.com/4049177/norbert-tortoise-birthday-salad/","keywords":["Newsfeed","animals"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. Waxman","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4049177/norbert-tortoise-birthday-salad/","name":"See Norbert the Tortoise Eat a Salad on His 53rd Birthday"}}]}] ```