Rodney Lewis

Chelonia mydas turtles have lifesaving surgery Most of the 191 Green Sea Turtles that were rescued after being cold stunned during the recent norther have been released, but several were held back for lifesaving surgery. Nearly half of the cold stranded turtles suffered from a potentially deadly virus that caused Fibropapilloma tumors to grow on their flippers, face and other soft tissue areas. A $30,000 […]

595 Batagur borneoensis hatchlings released in Sumatra The Painted Terrapin (Batagur borneoensis ) was once widespread throughout southern Thailand, peninsular Malaysia and Malaysian Borneo, and Sumatra, Indonesia, but it’s populations have plummeted due to unrestricted hunting, egg collection, and habitat destruction. On 30 December 2016, nearly 600 hatchlings of this critically endangered species were released into native habitat in the District of Aceh Tamiang, Sumatra,

Ancient DNA extracted from 1,000-year-old extinct tortoise from the Bahamas Thousands of years ago, the Bahamas was home to a large tortoise that died out shortly after human occupation in the islands began. Thanks to intrepid explorers probing the depths of a blue hole (water-filled sinkhole) on the island of Abaco, scientists have been able to study the astonishing remains of this extinct species. The

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