Matt Knight

FWC officers bust largest turtle trafficking ring seen in FL, free hundreds of reptiles (read the official FWC press release here) The arrests were more than two years in the making, following a February 2018 tip. In the following months, surveillance and investigations revealed a well-organized ring was illegally catching turtles on both private and public land to sell to large-scale distributors overseas. In one […]

Sea Life Minnesota Aquarium and University of Minnesota team up to create custom solution for sea turtle “’I really never expected to work on anything like this, but this project, it’s just been so incredibly fulfilling to perform this work, to see it out in the field. To see it work, nothing beats that,’ says Skahen. … “Knott says that Sea Life’s partnership with Minnesota

Royal Caribbean, WWF-Australia introduce new DNA test to identify genetically distinct populations of hawksbill sea turtles and protect them Hawksbill turtles from different regions, or even some countries, are genetically distinct, and their DNA signatures can be used to identify different nesting areas. The new test will allow scientists and marine conservationists to identify which where tortoiseshell products have come from and pinpoint hawksbill turtle

TSA’s Tortoise Conservation Center in Madagascar loses everything to fire, seeks help to rebuild ASAP “As this devastating fire has left the TCC in a vulnerable and incomplete state of operations, time is of the essence for rebuilding infrastructure, restoring security and communication capabilities, and ensuring the safety and well-being of our staff and the roughly 9,000 tortoises who reside on the center’s grounds. Aside

Jaque, Panama: the hard-to-reach town whose volunteers protect sea turtles The task has been further complicated by the drug traffickers who ply this jungle as well. Jaque, a town of 2,000, is only reached by air or sea. Valencia and his allies built a hatchery here shaded by wood and wire. Inside, they place the eggs in baskets where they’ll hatch in two months’ time.

Treatment used for drug overdoses in people could help sea turtles suffering from red tide exposure Red tides occur annually in the Gulf of Mexico and are caused by a harmful algal species that releases potent neurotoxins, known as brevetoxins, into the surrounding water. Brevetoxins bind to fats and are often found in fatty organs, such as the liver, in affected turtles. … Intravenous lipid

Australia’s Raine Island Recovery Project increasing nesting area, reducing nest inundations for world’s largest population of green sea turtles “Over the course of the project nearly 40,000 cubic metres of sand has been moved – the equivalent of 16 Olympic-sized swimming pools – to double the amount of area that is high enough for turtles to nest in without their eggs becoming inundated by the

Florida State University thinks climate change could bring short-term gain, long-term pain for loggerhead sea turtles New research from conservation biologists at Florida State University and their collaborators suggests that while some loggerheads will suffer from the effects of a changing climate, populations in certain nesting areas could stand to reap important short-term benefits from the shifting environmental conditions. In an investigation of 17 loggerhead