World Turtle News

Gopher tortoises: Study to determine if diseases, dwindling habitat cause low productivity So, you may have seen some rather large and perhaps cumbersome gopher tortoises scuttling through parks, reserves and natural habitats. But how often do you cross smaller, younger gopher tortoises? Researchers from Florida Atlantic University’s Habour Branch Oceanographic Institute along with the Loggerhead Marinelife Centre at Juno Beach have been asking the same […]

Drifting ”ghost nets” menace to marine life off Goa Panaji, an area of Goa in India is facing a menacing threat in their oceans. That threat…Ghost nets! It appears that several species of marine fauna are affected the most which includes sea turtles. Ghost nets are fishing nets which have been discarded by fishermen at sea after they become damaged and are no longer useful

Loggerhead Marinelife Center estimates 25,000 nests on Jupiter beach in 2019 By the end of the season, the center has predicted 25,000 green, loggerhead and leatherback nests will have dotted the 9.5 miles of beach Loggerhead monitors. Currently, 11,487 nests dot the beach from the entrance of MacArthur Beach State Park to the Jupiter Inlet. “These nest numbers are not unexpected,” said Dr. Justin Perrault,

Reptile expert Joseph Mitchell killed after walking onto Florida roadway Mitchell, of Fort White, worked as a herpetology research associate at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville. He also published or edited more than 500 papers on turtles, according to the Gainesville Sun. “He was well-known in conservation biology and turtle biology,” the museum’s courtesy assistant curator, Ken Dodd, told the newspaper. “He

Cayman Turtle Centre may have to stop releasing sea turtle hatchlings without government verification of its standards and protocols Ebanks-Petrie said that research over more than 20 years of wild turtle populations nesting in Cayman shows that they travel significant distance and do not remain in local waters. Given the range they have, the release of farmed turtles poses a threat to turtles nesting in

Hawksbill sea turtle killed by plastic waste in Gulf of Thailand The latest victim in the global plastic pollution pandemic is an unfortunate hawksbill sea turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata), which was found washed up on a beach in Thailand. Thailand is known to have a severe plastic pollution problem with many stating their “addiction” for plastic. Because of the country’s excessive-plastic waste output, much of it

‘Four-eyed’ hatchlings at the Tennessee Aquarium prop up two endangered turtle species Possible extinction for two turtle species has been safeguarded thanks to Tennessee Aquarium. The news comes after a pair of Four-eyed Turtles hatched at the aquarium and were discovered by their resident herpetologists during incubator inspections. What’s better is that two weeks after this, another pair of a closely related species (Beale’s Four-eyed

South American River Turtle subject of new study, results show 147,000 being protected Despite their local importance and past abundance, turtle populations are still threatened by the hunting and collection of adults and juveniles, looting of nests, the illegal trafficking of hatchlings to be used as pets, and the use of inappropriate fishing gear which can harm or kill individuals. In addition, broader degradation of

Disease linked to poor water quality affects island’s sea-turtle population (graphic) St. Maarten Nature Foundation have recorded a green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) with fibropapillomatosis (FP), a debilitating disease, during a dive. FP is a tumour forming disease that can greatly affect a turtle’s ability to swim, eat and evade predators. They primarily occur on the soft tissues of a turtle (flippers, eyes, skin). These