It Takes One To Save One
It takes one male to save a whole tortoise species! Diego, an endangered Chelonoidis hoodensis from Espanola Island, is over a hundred years old but is still very sexually active. He is the father of more than 800 offsprings, which highly contributed to save the species from extinction. He is the dominant male of the three assigned to repopulate Espanola. Around 50 years ago, there were only two males and 12 females of Diego’s species alive on Espanola, and they were too spread out to reproduce
Turtle News From Around the World
Conservation
Rehabbed green sea turtle returned to the sea
NYK provides support for sea turtle research
320 nests of loggerhead turtle in Dry Tortugas National Park
Brevard Zoo caring for 21 sea turtle babies
Crime & Punishment
Spur-thighed tortoises illegally imported to UK
A red footed tortoise was stolen from ZooWorld
Ecology
A new marshy home for endangered species Blanding’s turtle
More than 100 “washbacks” hatched sea turtles were found along beaches
Large Turtle Found Near Wrenshall
Miscellany
Three-legged sea turtle enjoys back scratch
Species Facts…
Kemp’s ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys kempii ) feed on mollusks, crustaceans, jellyfish, fish, algae or seaweed, and sea urchins. Juvenile Kemp’s ridleys primarily feed on crabs. Juvenile turtles tend to live in floating sargassum seaweed beds for their first years. Then they range between northwest Atlantic waters and the Gulf of Mexico while growing into maturity. These turtles change color as they mature. As hatchlings, they are almost entirely a dark purple , but mature adults have a yellow-green or white plastron and a grey-green carapace. They reach sexual maturity at the age of 10-12.
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Photo from AFP / by Santiago Piedra Silva.
