World Turtle News

Turtle headcount: Volunteers shell out for critical trip ON A National Parks map of the Capricorn-Bunker Islands, off the coast of Gladstone, there is one island with the highest level of restriction where only researchers can roam. Wreck Island doesn’t see nearly as many human feet as nearby Heron and Lady Musgrave Islands – but it does see an awful lot of flippers. For two […]

Half-shell heroes saving lost turtles Find out what the Kelly Tarlton’s Turtle Rehabilitation programme is doing to save sea turtles in New Zealand. Its name was Koha but the real gift was the crucial care a team of Auckland experts gave the critically endangered turtle, which ultimately saw its return to the wild. The juvenile hawksbill, named by Ngati Kuri iwi, was found stranded at

Slaughter of rare turtles in Yemen ‘alarming’ At least 250 critically endangered turtles in a national protectorate in Yemen have been killed by humans within the past month, according to area residents and officials. Sharma Protectorate, a nesting place for rare green turtles, is a two-hour drive east of Mukalla, the capital of Yemen’s eastern Hadramout province. Visitors to the protectorate have been wreaking havoc:

Baby turtles leave behind fleeting oases on beach dune deserts Baby turtles that fail to make it to the sea help fuel life on otherwise deserted sandy beaches in the tropics. The remains of turtle eggs that have been attacked by predators lead to a short pulse of life in what are normally deserts, boosting the abundance of small invertebrates fourfold, a study has found.

A Typical Day for a Sea Turtle Surveyer Face first in a three-and-a-half foot deep hole, breaking into a clutch of decomposing sea turtle eggs, I’ve never been more thankful for having not eaten breakfast. Pulling the eggs out in handfuls, my abs burn from holding my body in place to keep the sand from caving in. Once all the eggs are out, I start

‘Why is no one helping the baby turtles?’ Planet Earth II viewers were left distraught by the plight of hatchling turtles facing death after being attracted towards a busy road by light pollution. The final episode of Sir David Attenborough’s hit programme showed the babies in Barbados wrongly heading across a beach towards a town rather than the sea. With 80 per cent of them

Another day, another dead wildlife ranger. Where is the outrage? Protecting wildlife is no longer just a case of stopping poaching by poor local villagers. Illegal wildlife crime is now estimated to be worth more than $20bn (£16bn) per year, ranked only behind drugs, weapons and human trafficking in the criminal value chain. Rangers face well-organised criminal gangs and hardened armed militia. Rebel groups often

Turtle murder mystery at Misery Bay solved The case of the mysterious deaths of over 71 turtles in 2013 at Misery Bay Provincial Park has finally been closed and a plan has been recommended to hopefully catch any future mortalities more quickly at the park. “The turtles most likely died due to a predation event, but I believe that the deaths may have resulted from

Land reclamation in Malaysia puts environment and turtles at risk The island of Pulau Upeh is only a few kilometres north of the UNESCO-listed city. For generations it has been the state’s major nesting site for the critically-endangered hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata), but reclamation is encroaching. Once two kilometres out to sea, Pulau Upeh is now only 600 metres offshore. The effect on the turtle