Attempted Tortoise Smuggling at an Airport
Sixty Leopard Tortoises were discovered packed into small boxes at Schiphol over the weekend. The Dutch Food Safety authority reported that they could not move around at all inside the boxes. These tortoises, on their way to Hong Kong, did not have valid CITES papers.
Turtle News From Around the World
Conservation
Sea Turtles released at Laguna Phuket
An update on a turtle rescue team’s efforts
Ecology
A large number of sea turtle strandings in Longboat
Keep an eye out for turtles crossing the road
Did You Know…
Habitat info: Gopher tortoises are one of the few species of tortoise that dig burrows which can be up to ten feet deep and 40 feet long. It provides shelter from the sun, stable temperature and relative humidity, protection from predators. Other species that use the gopher tortoise burrows are called commensals, and they include nearly 400 mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and insects, such as the eastern indigo snake, Florida mouse, gopher frog, burrowing owl and gopher cricket.
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Photo from dearkitty1.
