World Turtle News

Yet Another State On Its Way To Initiating Ban Of Turtle Harvesting Arkansas may be following in the footsteps of New York, Nevada, and Missouri in implementing new laws to ban the commercial harvest of the 14 turtle species that are legally collected each year. A shocking 126,381 turtles were harvested between 2014 and 2016 within the state, and Elise Bennett from the Center for […]

NOAA, 1,000th turtle to be rehabilitated, release in the Hawaiian islands The agency�s fisheries stranding program in Hawaii has been responding to dead or injured sea turtles for more than 30 years. The 1,000th rehabilitated turtle, a 150-pound, sub-adult male, was released Friday afternoon at Maui�s Tavares Bay in Kuau. The Maui Ocean Center Marine Institute rescued the turtle Aug. 21 on a Maui beach

Ban To Halt Malaclemys terrapin Collection A Massive Conservation Victory New York’s quintessential chelonian, Malaclemys terrapin, is finally receiving the protection it deserves. The species is heavily collected for food consumption and populations have not bounced back following the massive collection rates of the 20th century. The state Department of Environmental Conservation has determined that the turtles are officially in decline and so has decided

Sonoyta mud turtle (Kinosternon sonoriense longifemorale) wins endangered species status It may not be surprising that an �aquatic desert� turtle faces long odds in life, but environmentalists and biologists still welcomed this week�s endangered species designation for the Sonoyta mud turtle. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced the designation Wednesday, citing threats from climate change to loss of habitat for the southern Arizona animal,

Trend toward sea turtle recovery around the globe (Read the full paper in Science Advances here) As a migratory species, sea turtles aren’t the easiest animals to protect. However, thanks to conservation efforts over the last 70 years, the effects of dangers such as over-exploitation and habitat loss appear to have been reduced significantly, allowing for a global bouncing back of sea turtle species. Dr.

Man Puts His Carpentry Skills and Creativity To Work With Incredibly Designed Tortoise Habitat When most people think of an off-grid home, they picture a cabin with solar panels, but one man had something completely different in mind. Paul Gordon, the owner of two large Sulcata tortoises, decided to think out of the box when his pets became too large for their enclosure. Knowing the

Tennessee Aquarium Researchers Create First Map Of North America�s Turtle Communities Many scientists research turtles at the level of individual species or single habitats, but this study represents the first attempt to consider them on the scale of the entire continent. The map divides North America into 16 bio-geographic �provinces,� sprawling regions containing turtle species with similar or shared characteristics. Looking at these reptiles in

Bristol Zoo Makes A Huge Leap Forward In Their Work With Endangered Asian Chelonians Since his fascinating adventure to Vietnam, Tim Skelton, curator of reptiles and amphibians at the Bristol Zoo, has been increasingly eager to reproduce the endangered Cuora mouhoutii, a native resident of the Asian country. It has been a long 12 years, and the zoo has finally broke the ribbon and successfully

Back from the dead�how to revive a lost species The discovery of DNA links or ‘high ancestry’ to extinct Floreana species of giant tortoise means the mega-herbivore could one day be returned to the island for repatriation via a captive-breeding program � perhaps within the next five years. Professor Luciano Beheregaray, Head of the Molecular Ecology Group at Flinders University, says the conservation effort will