Mary River Turtle, Elusor macrurus Suffers From Dry Weather It is well known that the environment determines whether or not turtle eggs will survive. Well, a too dry environment begets dehydratation which will results in the death of the eggs. This is exactly what happemed to many Mary River turtle eggs unfortunately. About 470 hatchlings emerged from protected nests this year. That is a third […]

Necropsies aim to reveal secrets of stranded turtles Volunteers gathered around Bob Prescott last Saturday as he prepared to cut off the bottom shell of a dead loggerhead turtle. Inside were the guts and a lot of fat, an unexpected amount of fat. “Hey, you guys, you want to see a fat turtle?” Prescott yelled to anyone who would listen. There were about 30 volunteers

Tortoise has soft-ball sized badder stone removed A 55-pound Sulcata (Centrochelys sulcata) tortoise named Sully is scheduled to be discharged from BluePearl Veterinary Partners hospital in Tampa after having a softball-sized stone surgically removed from his bladder. Dr. Peter Helmer, who performed the five-hour procedure to remove the stone Thursday, said the surgery was successful and Sully is recovering nicely. “It went really well,” said

Feral cats targeted to protect turtle hatchlings Rangers and conservationists concerned for the welfare of turtle hatchlings have carried out a feral cat trapping program in Exmouth. The Jurabi coastline is a major nesting ground for local turtle populations. Department of Parks and Wildlife (DPaW) nature conservation coordinator Derek Sandow said the feral cat population has been gradually increasing. “We have been really concentrating on

Prehistoric men ate tortoises 400,000 years ago Prehistoric men living in Qesem Cave, Israel nearly half a million years ago ate tortoises, say archaeologists based on shell and bone remains found in the site, which bore clear marks of man-caused damage and burning. It is the oldest-known example of cooked tortoise cuisine. In fact it turns out that prehistoric hominids, going back a couple of

Terri the sea turtle heads home After washing up on the shores of Jersey several weeks ago and having a flight home cost of £22k, she has made it home. Terri was flown home at reduce cost thanks to the aviation company owned by Iron Maiden front man Bruce Dickinson. Also watch a great video about the Turtle Trackers of Ningaloo and will the Hoan

Educating Hungry Ravens with 3D Printed Tortoise Shells The number of Gopher tortoises has been slowly declining in the Southwestern US according to conservationists. One of the reason of that decline ? Predators. Ravens commonly target young gopher tortoises for their meal. The solution ? 3D printed decoy shells to fool the hungry ravens. But ravens are extremely clever and will probably won’t be fooled