Michaela Wiersema

Conservation Measures Becoming Prevalent in India On May 23, which happened to be World Turtle Day, experts at Indira Gandhi Pratishthan met in order to gather ideas and develop stratagies for conserving their native turtle species, of which there are 28. Of these 28 species, 14 of them are endangered and efforts will be made to protect the ecosystems, halt the illegal trade, and headstart […]

Helping Turtles While Helping Inmates The Western Pond Turtle (Actinemys marmorata) is an aquatic species native to the Pacific Northwest, and is now classified as endangered in Washington and declining in Oregon as well as California. However, the Oregon zoo is dedicated to the conservation of this fascinating species and has been working on a headstarting program for 25 years, which involves raising hatchlings to

Bum-breathing turtle’s stress levels set to be monitored The White-throated mud turtle, Elseya albagula, is a little-known species native to Queensland, Australia; however, it recently made the news after scientists discovered it had a unique ability to breathe through its bum, giving it the nickname of “the bum-breathing turtle”. A population of these turtle resides in the catchment areas of the proposed Urannah Dam. Researcher

Turtle is legendary in Vietnam, but it’s on the verge of extinction The Yangtze soft-shell turtle (Rafetus swinhoei) is likely the most endangered turtle species on the face of the earth, with only two left in existence, which reside in captivity at Suzhou Zoo in China. The third turtle which lived in Hoan Kiem Lake, caused great media attention as it was revered by the

Scientists figure out why female turtles are born at higher temperatures It has been long been accepted that the sex of a turtle is determined before it is hatched, a process known as temperature sex determination. In most cases, a viable ova incubated at higher temperatures results in mostly females, while dropping the temperature only a couple degrees will produce males. In 1980 scientists were

Blanding’s Turtle Make Over This incredible story is a good reason to keep your eyes on the road this season. Only last week, a Blandings Turtle in Fayette County was run over by a car, resulting in major damage to the carapace. The Black Hawk Wildlife Rehabilitation Project was notified and rescued the turtle, with the plan to attempt to repair the seemingly fatal injuries.

BLM looking for final approval of private lands trade to complete Red Cliffs Desert “Tortoise” Reserve The endangered Desert Tortoise is native to California and Nevada as well as portions of Utah and Arizona; however, despite its seemingly wide range of habitat, this species has declined dramtically to where there are an estimated 100,000 animals left in the wild. One crucial habitat for this tortoise

NSW Scientific Committee lists north coast turtle as critically endangered The Bellinger River Snapping Turtle has officially been raised to a critically endangered status by the New South Wales Scientific Committee. Myuchelys georgesi was battered by a mysterious virus which almost caused their extinction just one year ago. The population took a nose-dive as numbers dropped from approximately 2000 to likely less than 60 animals.

Guest Post: Successful Propagation of the Chinese Big-headed turtle at Prospect Park Zoo The most recent breeding success story comes from Prospect Park Zoo, with the hatching of Chinese big-headed turtle (Platysternon megacephalum) eggs. Since 2013 there has been encouraging activity with this breeding pair, which has produced multiple viable ova resulting in 13 hatchlings. The Prospect Park Zoo, a member of the Wildlife Conservation