Latest Turtle Stories
Experts say two girls who swam with pet turtles in a backyard pool were among 107 people sickened in the largest salmonella outbreak blamed on turtles nationwide, The Associated Press reported.Mostly children were victims of the 2007-08 outbreak in 34 states, where officials said at least one-third of all patients had to be hospitalized. Many of the parents involved didn't know that turtles could carry salmonella and despite a 1975 ban on selling small turtles as pets, they continue to be...
Demonstrating that short genetic sequences identify migratory marine speciesConservation geneticists who study sea turtles have a new tool to help track this highly migratory and endangered group of marine animals: DNA barcodes. DNA barcodes are short genetic sequences that efficiently distinguish species from each other"”even if the samples from which the DNA is extracted are minute or degraded. Now, a recently published research paper by scientists from the American Museum of Natural...
A turtle that strayed onto the runway at an Australian airport got an appropriate nickname after a pilot taxiing after landing swerved around it -- Lucky. The long-necked turtle was retrieved by safety officers at Gold Coast Airport and taken to a nearby stream Thursday, the Brisbane Times reported. An airport spokeswoman said because the pilot had already touched down and slowed the plane he was able to avoid Lucky without putting passengers at risk. She said the airport is surrounded by...
Canadian researchers in Halifax, Nova Scotia, say they're thrilled a rare leatherback sea turtle they tagged and released last summer turned up in Colombia. The Canadian Sea Turtle Network tagged 11 of the turtles with satellite transmitters and released them into the Atlantic Ocean last May, spokeswoman Laura Bennett told The Chronicle-Herald. The transmitters on the other turtles likely fell off, but one on the female named Nueva Esperanza, or new hope, enabled staff to locate her almost...
- Sea Turtle safe lighting used at luxury beachfront hotels in Florida - LED lighting meets Florida Fish and Wildlife requirements AUCKLAND, New Zealand, June 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Axiom NZ, a leading global manufacturer of LED lighting systems, has announced that its extensive line of Sea Turtle safe LED lighting systems are being used at various Florida resort hotels. Axiom NZ Amber Sea Turtle Lighting products are being used at the W Hotel in Miami Beach, the Eden Roc Hotel and Spa in...
The world's oldest sea turtles -- leatherbacks and loggerheads -- will become extinct unless U.S. agencies do more to protect them, a lawsuit says. To save the turtles, the Obama administration must alter the policies set by former President George W. Bush, said Todd Steiner, executive director of the California-based Turtle Island Restoration Network. Otherwise, we will lose these magnificent animals in our life, Steiner said. The western Pacific leatherbacks swim from Indonesia to...
Four years ago the people of Runduma decided to start protecting the turtles that they once used on the Indonesian island to help with finances, such as to put children through school or keep the village kitty in petty cash.Environmentalists now say that the turtle population is growing in the seas off southeast Sulawesi, and the turtle hunters have become their guardians in the battle to save the marine reptiles from extinction. "We used to have a long and unique tradition...
Spike TV Acquires the Rights to Broadcast the HBO(R) Hit Series Entourage(R) NEW YORK, May 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Entourage, one of television's signature shows for guys, will now be seen on the quintessential network for guys. Beginning in January 2010, Spike TV will be the exclusive basic cable network home for broadcasts of the wildly popular HBO comedy series Entourage, announced John Griffin, vice president, programming, Spike TV. The off-net acquisition rights cover all seasons to date...
Michael Knell carried a 75-million-year-old turtle into Bozeman Deaconess hospital recently, then laid it carefully on the bed that slides into the CT scanner.Hardly an ordinary patient, the turtle fossil was only the second in the world found with eggs inside it, said Knell, a Montana State University graduate student in earth sciences. His turtle (from the genus Adocus) came from the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Kanab, Utah. The previously described turtle, which was found...
ARLINGTON, Va., April 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Conservation International (CI) and National Geographic will hold a telephone news conference April 15 to kick off the "Great Turtle Race," with 11 leatherback sea turtles competing in an epic journey from feeding areas in chilly waters off Canada's Atlantic coast to breeding areas in warm tropical waters throughout the Caribbean. Participants in the call include Pearl Jam's Stone Gossard, NBC announcer Rowdy Gaines, Olympic champions Jason...
Latest Turtle Reference Libraries
The Hawksbill Turtle, Eretmochelys imbricata, is a critically endangered sea turtle belonging to the family Cheloniidae. The species is distributed throughout all of the world's seas, but the Atlantic and pacific populations are divided into two subspecies. E. I. imbricata is the Atlantic subspecies and E. I. bissa is the Pacific subspecies. The Hawksbill is predominantly known as a tropical sea turtle found in the tropical seas of the Indian, Atlantic and Pacific oceans. However, they...
Kemp's Ridley, Lepiochelys kempii, is a critically endangered species of sea turtle. Their range includes the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. They are also the only turtle which almost all the females return to one single beach (Rancho Nuevo in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas) every single year to lay their eggs. They are the smallest of the sea turtle species, growing less than 40 inches and weighing about 100 pounds as an adult. Kemp's Ridley sea turtle changes color with its...
The Leatherback Sea Turtle, Dermochelys coriacea, is the biggest of all living turtles. It reaches a length of over 8.8 feet and a weight of 2,000 pounds. It is the world's 4th largest reptile. It is found in all tropical and subtropical oceans. It is the only extant species in the genre Dermochelys and the family Dermochelyidae. This species has many unique features that distinguish it greatly from other sea turtles. Its shell lacks the bony scales of other turtles, comprising mainly of...
The Alligator Snapping Turtle (Macroclemys temminckii) is a larger yet less aggressive relative of the common snapping turtle. It is characterized by a large, heavy head and a thick tail with a dorsal ridge of large scales which gives it a primitive appearance reminiscent of some of the plated dinosaurs. The inside of the turtle's mouth is camouflaged and it possesses a vermiform appendage on the tip of its tongue with which it lures fish. Like the common snapping turtle, the alligator...
