Posted on: 2018-09-14 10:30:45
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Have you seen these turtle stories?
There’s baby boxies, baby loggerheads, and baby snappers. All just too adorable for words.
Also sea turtle releases, rescues, and a study on just how much plastic a sea turtle can safely eat (None. The answer is none.).
There’s also good conservation news & sad conservation news. Plus tortoises saved from a smuggler, giving turtles a safer way to get to the other side of the street, and more.
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Recent Box Turtle News
Turtles of all kinds need as much help as they can get to survive. Zoos and other organizations do what they can with breeding and head-start programs. And every successful hatching is cause for celebration.
Not to mention ooohs & aaahhs over the little cuties. Especially when they’re box turtles! 💚
Yucatan box turtle babies! These guys have a tiny native range in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. Their numbers are dropping in the wild, but now there’s 5 more at the Oklahoma City Zoo. Includes picture.
Recent U. S. Turtle News
Have you been following the Tour de Turtles? There’s still 48 days to go, so there’s plenty of time for your favorite to surge ahead! Check in to see who’s in the lead.
And we have tiny babies, a warning about letting turtles go extinct, and a big reward if you help catch whoever hit a turtle over the head.
Plus more.
Baby turtles news & pictures
Baby sea turtle webcam! Watch loggerhead hatchlings swim & dive. The current group includes several who got themselves stuck in a pool filter recently. They were quite active when we watched. 💚
Baby loggerheads talk to each other?! Apparently they mew at each other while still in the nest. Researchers are using hydrophones (special microphones) & other equipment to build a database of all stages of sea turtle life, starting before hatching. Clearly there’s still a lot to learn!
Teeny, tiny snapper: That’s it. Just a couple of pictures of a baby snapper discovered in a yard. It doesn’t look at all ferocious!
Baby snapping turtles hatch within protected area: A wildlife nest enclosure put up earlier this year has done its job. Snapping turtle nests got to incubate in peace & the babies recently emerged. Includes pictures. 💚 (Minnesota)
Sea turtle releases
Lefty wasn’t too sure what to do once he hit the beach: The 3-year-old loggerhead has spent his whole life at the University of Georgia Aquarium. The last time he saw sand was when he was rescued from his nest after his siblings had left, so this beach thing was kinda new to him. With a little encouragement he finally swam away. Includes video.
9 Kemp’s ridleys head back to sea: They all got themselves accidentally caught by fishermen who did the right thing & called the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies for help. (Mississippi)
Other turtle news
Reward offered in injured turtle case: A loggerhead turtle with head injuries that looked deliberate had to be euthanized. Now 2 sea turtle organizations are offering $1350 for information about who may have done this. The Center for Biological Diversity has added an additional $5000 reward, for a total of $6,350. Warning: Includes pictures. (North Carolina)
Turtles going extinct is more than just sad: It’s also bad for the environment and other animals. Turtles do a lot we don’t think about, like help keep water clean, disperse seeds, and even create big burrows that other animals also use.
More help for Blanding’s turtles in Illinois: The Forest Preserve District of DuPage County, along with 5 partner organizations, has been trying to help Blanding’s turtles recover since 1996. It’s going well, but there’s still a long way to go. Now they have a new partner in the effort, Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium.
Recent International Turtle News
Plastic and smugglers and busy streets all threaten turtle survival. But lots of people care & are doing their best to protect the turtles from these threats. And to spread the word and hopefully inspire others to help, too.
Plastic vs Turtles
Look what they found in Midas’ stomach: The green sea turtle washed up on a Western Australia beach. At first Midas seemed to be getting better, but eventually the care team realized the turtle was just too sick—with a terrible infection and other problems. And when they did a necropsy they discovered something all too common in sick sea turtles lately. 😢
It only takes one piece of plastic to kill a turtle: Not in every case of course. Or even in most cases. But it has happened more than once. And apparently 14 pieces is the “magic” number where the turtle has a 50:50 shot at living or dying. More than that and it’s more likely to die than live. 😢 (Research done in Australia)
A giant, plastic turtle greets visitors to the British Science Festival at University of Hull. It’s made from plastic waste collected locally. The turtle is raising awareness of the harm human-created trash causes to life on the planet. (England)
Turtle protection & conservation news
Citizen scientists help identify turtle “hot spots”: The Carapace project lets anyone who sees a turtle in Quebec to upload a picture to the project’s website, along with location & other information. (Podcast)
30+ year old sea turtle protection group disbanding: The number of volunteers has gone down drastically over the years. And the remaining members are getting too old to do it all themselves. So this is their last year. Hopefully other sea turtle groups in Japan will be able step in to keep protecting Yakushima island’s loggerheads.
Protecting sea turtles on Côn Đảo Island: The island may be the largest sea turtle nesting site in Vet Nam. Côn Đảo National Park has been protecting sea turtles since 1991. Around 750,000 baby sea turtles have gotten a chance at life due to the park’s program in just the past 5 years.
Bringing back Switzerland’s native turtle: Yes, there is a turtle native to Switzerland, and researchers have been working to bring the European pond turtle back to the country. It seems to be working, as they’ve found turtles in the wild descended from reintroduced turtles. 💚 Includes video.
Miscellaneous turtle news
$261,500 worth of tortoises seized: A woman was trying to help smuggle 523 star tortoises out of India.
Turtle tunnels are coming to North Dumfries! The town will put up fencing and create underground tunnels for the local turtles. The fences will stop turtles from getting to a busy road, and the tunnels give a safer way to get to the other side. Includes video. (Ontario, Canada)
One fishing net traps 5 sea turtles: They washed up on a beach in Thailand, 4 alive and 1 dead. Includes pictures.