tortoise news

State Law Keeps Gopher Tortoise Safe Over the last 10 years, the treatment of the Gopher Tortoise has changed a lot. Until 2007, land owners could apply for a “incidental-take” permit to simply entomb the animals in their own burrows. The Orlando Sentinel reported that 12,690 incidental-take permits were issued in 2006 and another 6,867 in 2007 before the law changed. Today in Florida Gopher […]

Another Conservation Success Story for a U.K. Zoo Did you know that there are approximately only 60 Cuora galbinifrons kept in zoos around the globe? One of these zoos is the Paignton Zoo Environmental Park in the U.K. Just recently this zoo successfully hatched two eggs from the galbinifrons, the second success since 2013. Paignton zoo currently keeps five mature adults, with one of the

Gladys Porter Zoo Hatches Galápagos Tortoise The Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville, Texas hatched a few Galápagos tortoise eggs last week. The Zoo is currently waiting for more eggs to hatch and are hoping to get some females in order to help sustain the species. “Until they’re ready (to leave the incubator), we keep them wrapped up to simulate being underground. They spend up to

The Secretive Turtle of the Salt Marshes Did you know that there is a North American turtle species that has adapted to saltwater habitats? The Diamond-back Terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin) thrives in the brackish waters of the Staten Island salt marshes. These turtles have a unique pattern on the carapace, similar to a human fingerprint in that none of them are alike. In the late 1800’s,

Students work to preserve the endangered Glyptemys insculpta (Wood turtle) University of Northern Iowa students studying Iowa’s rarest reptile aren’t just reading about them. They’re gathering information that will appear in future books and papers. Under the direction of biology professor Jeff Tamplin, students are studying and helping to preserve isolated populations of endangered wood turtles in Black Hawk and Butler counties. For Zach Hall,

How Do Oil Spills Affect Sea Turtles? Sea turtles: These beloved marine reptiles have been swimming the seas for millions of years. As we’ve seen in the Gulf of Mexico in recent years, oil spills represent yet another danger for these air-breathing reptiles that rely on clean water and clean beaches. But how exactly do oil spills affect sea turtles? And what do people do

Explore the Dubai Turtle Rehabilitation Project You might be surprised if you happen to stay at the Burj Al Arab hotel for a night. What you may not realize is that you will be sharing the hotel with some endangered sea turtles; in fact, the Dubai Turtle Rehabilitation Project (DTRP) operates from the hotel, and have released more than 100 sea turtles back into their

It’s World Sea Turtle Day! Video of a day in the life of an aquarium sea turtle It’s World Sea Turtle Day and the Audubon Aquarium is celebrating in a most special way. Staffers at the aquarium strapped a GoPro camera onto King Mydas, the popular giant green turtle, and gave us all an incredible look into a typical day inside the 400,000-gallon Gulf of

Frankenturtles Could Help Save Sea Turtles Professor David Kaplan is doing the unthinkable. He and his graduate student Bianca Santos came up with an unusual idea to provide insight on the reasons why so many sea turtles perish in the Chesapeake Bay. The plan? To use turtle carcasses to track the effects of various factors which play into turtle mortality. Tragically, the death toll is