The Largest Hard-Shelled Sea Turtle In The World

Loggerheads are the largest hard-shelled sea turtle in the world. Leatherbacks are bigger, but are part of the soft-shell family of sea turtles. Loggerheads have a broad muscular head, powerful jaws, and have a distinct reddish-brown shell, which is called a carapace. The carapace is elongated and heart shaped when seen from above. The adult shell is rather smooth, and the sides become slightly serrated as they narrow toward the tail. The paddle-like limbs are each equipped with a pair of claws. The loggerhead is usually various shades of brown; from its reddish-brown to dark brown carapace as well as upper surfaces of the head and limbs, which are chestnut to dark brown also. The underbelly and the edges of its limbs, are light yellow to tan, and the scales on the head have a creamy yellow edge and a darker center. Telling the difference between a male and a female loggerhead is quite easy, males have a tail that extends well beyond the shell, where as the female’s is much shorter.

Adult loggerheads average three feet in length, and weigh approximately 250 pounds. For perspective- the largest recorded loggerhead had a 7 ½ ft. shell and weighed in at an astounding 1,190 lbs. Unfortunately, many loggerheads, and sea turtles in general are poached or caught in fishing nets never able to realize their full size. Today’s loggerhead is much smaller than the loggerhead of old.
Loggerheads have an enormous range and are found in most tropical and subtropical seas. They do not occur in the more frigid waters of the world. In Costa Rica, loggerheads are found on the Caribbean side, never making it to the Pacific coast of the country. In Costa Rica, the female loggerhead nests on the Caribbean coast preferring the southern part of the coast, but are periodically seen as far north as Tortuguero National Park. They frequent coral reefs and shipwrecks, seeming to prefer coastal habitats and inland water bodies, but they will also travel hundreds of miles out to sea.
Males and females mate in the water in close proximity to their nesting sites. The male uses its massive claws to attach itself to the female. It’s not unusual for mating to last three hours.
Adult female loggerheads will often return, sometimes covering thousands of miles, to the beach where they hatched, to lay their eggs. Normally taking place at high tide and during the night, the female will lay her large clutch of eggs, typically between 65 to 200 eggs, in a deep hole in the sand which she will cover after she has laid all her eggs. A female can nest several times during the breeding season, with 12-15 day intervals. Hatchlings appear about 7 to 10 weeks after the eggs are laid. Since eggs are abandoned after being laid, the young hatchlings are on their own. When they emerge from the nest they immediately head to the sea. This trek is survival of the fittest, and most will never reach 1 year old.
Loggerheads are carnivores. They feed on shrimp, crab, jellyfish, mollusks and squid but have also been known to occasionally munch on seaweed and sargassum.
Luckily for the loggerhead, their meat is not as highly valued as that of other marine turtles, but unfortunately, their eggs are. Poaching is a problem. In Costa Rica, the on-going development of nesting beaches for tourism as well as shrimp nets, in which they drown, take a serious toll on these magnificent creatures.
It’s interesting to note that a loggerhead sea turtel can travel up to speeds of 15 mph.
Pollution, shrimping, and development of nesting beaches are a major reason the loggerhead has been on the endangered species list since 1978.

Sea Turtle Depends On It's Particular Species

Sea turtles are found in all of the major oceans and smaller seas with the exception of the Arctic Circle as it is generally too cold for sea turtles as they tend to prefer more temperate waters. The bigger species of sea turtle are found more in the Southern Hemisphere in the tropical, warmer waters.

There are 7 known species of sea turtle today including the flatback sea turtle which is native to Australia; the green sea turtle which is found all over the world but there are larger populations of the green sea turtle in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans; the hawksbill turtle is a critically endangered species of sea turtle and can be found all over the world; the kemps ridley turtle is the rarest species of sea turtle in the world and is found in the Atlantic ocean and in the Gulf of Mexico; the leatherback sea turtle is the largest species of sea turtle and is the most widely distributed species of sea turtle, found all over the world; the loggerhead sea turtle is known for it's large head and is mainly found in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans; the olive ridley sea turtle is the smallest species of sea turtle and is generally found in the Indo-Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

Although sea turtles spend their time out at sea, sea turtles always go back to the same beach to breed and often travel huge distances to get there. The female sea turtles bury their eggs in the sand on the beach where they were born. After laying her eggs the female sea turtle will return to the sea, leaving her eggs to hatch in their nest under the sand. When the baby sea turtles hatch, they walk straight into the ocean and begin their life at sea.

Today, all of the 7 different species of sea turtle are under threat from extinction. The decline in the world's sea turtle population is thought to be mainly due to the sea turtles being caught accidentally by large fishing boats and due to the fact that humans will often take the eggs of the sea turtle to eat as a delicacy. Numerous conversation projects are underway all over the world in order to try to protect and preserve the sea turtle populations that remain.

The diet of the sea turtle depends on it's particular species. Some species of sea turtle are carnivorous, others are herbivores and some species of sea turtle will eat almost anything. Sea turtles tend to eat sea grasses, shrimp, crabs, fish and jellyfish, depending on what the sea turtle can find and catch.
Sea turtles have the remarkable ability to travel hundreds (in some cases thousands) of miles in order to get between their feeding grounds and their nesting grounds. Most female sea turtles return to the same beach to nest every time and will often emerge from the water just meters away from from where they nested the time before.

Sea turtles will often be able to breed for around 30 years with some species of sea turtle not being able to do so until they are 50 years old. Adult sea turtle have few natural predators besides large sharks and being caught up in human fishing nets meaning that they can live to more than 80 years old. Around 90% of baby sea turtles are eaten by smaller predators like raccoons, sea birds and large fish.

Male and female sea turtles tend to be around the same size. Adult sea turtles vary a great deal in size depending on the species of sea turtle with the smallest sea turtles measuring around 50 cm and largest are nearly 2 m.

Turtle's Interesting Life

 Sea turtles are air-breathing reptiles remarkably adapted to life in the sea. Their streamlined shape, large size and powerful flippers enable them to dive to great depths and travel long distances.
The only time sea turtles leave the ocean is when females emerge to lay their eggs on a sandy beach.
A turtle must drag her great weight ashore, dig a nest, deposit about one hundred eggs, and cover and conceal the nest before returning to sea. The arduous process of nesting can take up to three hours.

 Nests are found by walkers the next morning. It looks as if a tractor has emerged from the ocean, turned around and gone back in the ocean.
The mother turtle leaves her eggs to incubate in the warm sand and never visits her nest again. A female will usually lay several nests during one season and many nest every two to three years.
Volunteers mark the nest for monitoring because the tracks and body pit containing the egg clutch are quickly obliterated by the wind, human foot traffic.
Here in the sugar sand of South Walton, the average incubation time for the eggs to hatch is about 62 days.

A joyful site is a succesfully hatched nest! This hatched nest was found at dawn. All hatchlings emerged about the same time, and left baby tractor tracks as they scurried directly to the ocean, in synch with the divine plan. This is not always the case anymore.

Quincy Marine center care "zombie" the tortoise back to life

　　During this past weekend's snowstorm, a walker along Martha's Vineyards' Edgartown beach came across a near dead Kemp's Ridley Turtle, in a "zombie-like state" and suffering from hypothermic shock from the below freezing temperatures.
The endangered sea turtle was rescued just in time, as it was immediately taken to a wildlife sanctuary and is now safely recovering inside New England Aquarium’s Marine Animal Care Center in Quincy.
Massachusetts typically sees hundreds of these endangered turtles popping up along the coastline throughout the winter season. Beyond life threatening hypothermia, nearly all of the effected sea turtles also suffer from dehydration, malnutrition, metabolic problems and possibly even pneumonia.

　　Last year, more than 120 endangered and threatened sea turtles were brought to the Quincy Marine Care Center, for treatment and recovery until the weather permitted their return to the Ocean.
The rescued turtle, found early Sunday afternoon, will be slowly re-warmed, at a few degrees warmer each day, until it's body temperature returns to it's normal state in the low 70's.

Help Seaturtles alert to volunteer

　　Paul and Connie Summerlin were in the middle of their early-morning walk along the beach in south Baldwin County when they spotted a commotion.
When they investigated, a fisherman had reeled in an endangered Kemp’s ridley turtle. Because of their role with Share the Beach, the Summerlins quickly moved into action as the crowd watched the angler remove the monofilament line that had put the turtle in distress.
As members of the Share the Beach program, the Summerlins, who call Foley home, patrol a 1.3-mile stretch of beach to look for signs of sea turtle nesting activity. On this morning in May, they were distracted from their regular vigil.
“About 75 yards away, we saw a fisherman and there was a crowd gathering around him,” Paul said. “I thought he had caught a big fish, but I leaned out and looked that way and realized it was a turtle. So we ran down there right quick to look at her. He had already removed the monofilament and was fixing to release her. But I looked at her and told him we didn’t need to release her; we needed to get a recovery team out here with the Share the Beach turtle program.”

　　An endangered Kemp’s ridley turtle, nicknamed Molly, is lifted from its transport crate and deposited on the beach near the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge by Lisa Crawford of the Gulfarium and Paul Summerlin of Foley as Connie Summerlin looks on. As part of the Share the Beach program, the Summerlins played a role in the rescue and rehabilitation of the turtle, which scooted down the sugar-colored sand and into the Gulf of Mexico, where she quickly disappeared into the clear, blue waters.Share the Beach (www.alabamaseaturtles.com) is a volunteer program that enlists concerned citizens to walk every mile of the Alabama beaches from Mobile Bay to the Florida line, as well as Dauphin Island.
“We walk every morning during turtle-nesting season,” Summerlin said. “We walk it right at daylight to see if we spot any turtle trails before the crowds get out and disturb the tracks. If we find a turtle crawl, we call in a team and move the nest if necessary. We excavate the nest and count the eggs. We mark them and monitor them. The turtles will nest any time from May to the first of October. There are usually several rescues a year, but this is the first rescue effort we’ve been involved in.”
The Kemp’s ridley rarely nests along the Alabama Coast, although several nests have been verified. The majority of the nesting for the Kemp’s ridley, which is mostly carnivorous, occurs in Mexico and southern Texas. Although they rarely nest in Alabama, Kemp’s ridley turtles are frequently seen in Alabama waters by recreational and commercial fishermen.
Other sea turtles that may be encountered along the Alabama Coast include the loggerhead, leatherback, hawksbill and green sea turtle. The leatherback and hawksbill are also listed as endangered species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, while the loggerhead and green are listed as threatened. The green sea turtle gets its name from the color of its fat because of its diet of vegetation and algae. The leatherback diet is made up mainly of jellyfish, while the hawksbill feeds primarily on sponges, invertebrates and algae. The loggerhead, which is the turtle most often encountered along the Alabama Coast, dines on hard-shelled animals like conchs and whelks, as well as crabs and other crustaceans.
When the Summerlins called 866-SEA-TURTLE to report the turtle in distress, a team from the Gulfarium in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., was quickly dispatched to recover the turtle and assess its health.
Rachel Cain, one of the turtle rehabilitators at Gulfarium, said the Summerlins definitely took the right action.
“The monofilament line was wrapped so tightly that it had cut off the circulation in the flippers,” Cain said. “The turtle was unable to swim well. She was brought to the Gulfarium to make sure the monofilament was completely removed, and she did have to undergo a course of antibiotics because of the deep cuts along each flipper. She also went through a little physical therapy to get a little more movement in each flipper. She did not lose any part of the flipper. One of the flippers is a little less functional, but she is able to get around with all the abilities she had previously. It’s just one flipper doesn’t move as well.

　　“They are a more-endangered species. We have a few nests in our area. This is one that is rarer, and we don’t encounter them as often in our area. It’s a smaller turtle species for our area. It gets to be about 100 pounds when it’s fully grown. Its shell is different. It looks almost like a lily pad compared to the other species, which have shells that are more teardrop-shaped.”
Patrick Berry, general manager of the Gulfarium, said the Kemp’s ridley release near the Bon Secour Wildlife Refuge was one of three for the week.
“The Gulfarium has been in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., for more than 55 years,” Berry said. “We have quite a variety of species of animals at our facility. As far as our role in this project, we have been involved in sea turtle rehabilitation for many, many years, almost as long as the facility has been in existence. We’ve worked with the gamut of the sea turtle species to rehabilitate them and return them to the wild.
“Just the other day, we released another Kemp’s ridley turtle near Fort Walton Beach, where it was rescued. We’re also going to release a green sea turtle at Pensacola, where it was rescued. We’re thrilled to be a part of the sea turtle rehabilitation effort. It’s good for our staff, as well as the animals. We like to get the message out about how to conserve these animals for future generations.
Berry said the greatest threats to sea turtles are habitat degradation, entanglement in monofilament or netting, boat strikes and ingestion of garbage.
“Plastic bags get blown into the water that the turtles mistake for jellyfish,” he said. “Some of this is man-made, so we need to try to be careful to reduce those variables by reducing, reusing and recycling. All of us can do those simple little things that help conserve this type species and other species in the ocean.”

Terrible turtles

　　
　　Let's start with the basics. There are two types of snapping turtle: the Common Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina) and the Alligator Snapping Turtle (Macrochelys temminckii). A common snapper has a smoother shell than an alligator snapper's, which has three distinct spiky ridges. Don't be fooled by common snapper hatchlings, however. They have ridged shells at birth that even out over time. The alligator snapper has a more triangular head with little bumps that look like eyelashes around the eye. Generally, the alligator snapper looks more prehistoric than the common snapper. Can you tell these two apart? (Source)
2. Common Snapping Turtles are an Ancient Species

　　People say turtles are slow, but snapping turtles might say that humans are slow! The modern snapping turtle evolved over 40 million years ago, while anatomically modern humans emerged only 200,000 years ago. Snapping turtles hung out with dinosaurs, but they're not closely related at all. Birds have more in common with dinosaurs than snapping turtles do. Source.

India's festival to slaughter the turtle to celebrate

　　A Hindu festival that celebrates light has been shrouded in darkness following the sacrificial slaughter of up to 100,000 turtles.
Shown in these horrifying images, critically endangered species including the northern river terrapin and the black soft-shell turtle, are sacrificed in the name of religion.
The ancient ritual takes place during the celebration of Kali Puja, which started in Bengal yesterday.

　　Slaughtered for tradition: A Bangladeshi trader kills a turtle with a knife and stick in the early morning hours in Dhaka, Bangladesh
Held once a year, and corresponding with the festival Diwali, sacrifices are made to Kali, the Hindu goddess of power.
During Kali Puja, market streets are teeming with devotees who purchase and consume thousands of turtles.
One of the species found on Dhaka's markets is the northern river terrapin.
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Around 25 individuals are known to exist, making it one of the rarest animals on earth.
On paper it is offered the same level of protection as a tiger.
Another targeted species is the black soft-shell, which has only recently been officially been found in the wild and it has a single population in a pond in the region of Chittagong.
Even though many of the turtles are critically endangered and feature on Schedule 1 of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act, the slaughter is often overlooked by authorities.
The act has enraged conservation groups in India and abroad.

　　Laid on the table: 100,000 turtles were butchered and their meat, limbs and organs were sold to customers to eat, it is sole for between £6 to £37 per kilo
"Since the killing of turtles was made illegal, this mass slaughter has been carried out in the name of 'religion'," said Dr Rashid of Centre for Advanced Research in Natural Resources & Management (CARINAM) in Bangladesh.
'It's because of this that the authorities turn a blind eye - they are too scared of causing social unrest."
At Dhaka's Tanti Market, the turtles are butchered and their meat, limbs and organs are then sold to customers.
The meat sells for between $10 - $60 per kilo (£6-£37), depending on the species.
Followers believe that by eating the turtle, they will take on its strength and longevity.
During festival, the majority of Bangladesh's Hindu population consume turtle meat.
Businessman Sunil Kumar Bala commented: "We have been eating turtles during Kali Puja for a long time. It is a tradition that we will maintain even if the government tries to stop us."
The turtle trade offers a source of income to up to 30,000 people.

Sea turtles and pearl

　　
　　Will, found at The Pearl-Qatar
The United Development Company (UDC), in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment, have jointly agreed to establish the country’s first urban turtle sanctuary at The Pearl-Qatar.
The sanctuary, the Turtle Rehab Project, already has its first beneficiary - “Will”, an endangered green sea turtle that was found injured near The Pearl-Qatar in October 2010. The project was announced by Mohamed al-Jaidah, an environment expert at the Ministry of Environment, and one of the team members who accompanied “Will” on her journey to the United Arab Emirates.
Jaidah explained to delegates at the ecoQ conference: “The Pearl-Qatar’s Environmental Affairs team contacted us to assist in Will’s rehabilitation. After treatment in Doha and later at a specialised facility in Dubai, it was decided by the Ministry of Environment and UDC to establish a turtle sanctuary encompassing education and research at The Pearl-Qatar to care for turtles with conditions like Will.
“Facilities at The Pearl-Qatar’s state-of-the-art sanctuary will include an aquarium, touch pools for marine life, turtle hatchery, rearing pools and wet and dry treatment labs,” Jaidah added.
“This project primarily embraces programmes of injured turtle treatment and rehabilitation, nest protection, research and education while providing a visitor attraction. Education is a key component and emphasis will be placed on learning, whether it’s a child understanding of the life cycle of a sea turtle or a PhD student researching marine conservation in the Middle East.”

Released the turtle

　　
　　The 75-pound Kemp's Ridley sea turtle named Talulla returned to the water on Friday. She was rescued June 28 on a beach on Eglin Air Force Base property. The emaciated turtle was found on its back just out of the water.
The Northwest Florida Daily News reports staff at the Gulfarium nursed the turtle back to health.
Kemp's Ridley turtles are listed as endangered species.
Next week, the Gulfarium will release its last two rehabilitated turtles -- one in Pensacola and the other near Gulf Shores, Ala. Four other Kemp's Ridley turtles live at the marine park.

The tortoise is not allowed to trade

　　Nguyen Ba Toan, a Hanoi man who has caught and sold a 22-kg Asiatic soft shell turtle, can be fined up to $24,000 for trading threatened species, said lawyer Nguyen Viet Trieu, head of Viet Trieu law firm in Hanoi.
Giant turtle sold to Chinese man

　　Trieu said Vietnamese laws state that any attempt to hunt, capture, raise or kill wild animals listed in appendix IIB of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) can receive a fine of VND400-500 million (US$19,200-24,000).
Toan discovered the giant turtle on October 12 when he went fishing under Chuong Duong Bridge and caught it by himself.
After bringing it home, he invited many people to his house to see the turtle and offered to sell it.
After hearing that the turtle is in the Red List of Threatened Species, Toan tried to raise it while waiting for authorities to solve the case.
But as no government official turned up and the turtle started to become weak, he sold it to a person in the northern province of Bac Giang for VND100 million (US$4,800) on October 14.
Many wonder why officials didn’t take any action and let Toan sell the creature.
Nguyen Van Quan, head of the wild animal preservation at Education for Nature Vietnam (ENV) said that after hearing about the case, he immediately called the Department of Captured Fisheries and Resources Protection under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
However, he was told to contact Hanoi’s Forest Protection Department, which later said turtles are a marine creature and thus fall within the responsibility of the former department.
But according to a government decree issued on June 20 2008, the Forest Protection Department is in charge of cases related to Asiatic soft shell turtles.

How learning more about can help conserve sea turtles

　　
　　This is an Olive ridley turtle fitted with satellite-relayed data logger in French Guiana. Credit: Copyright: JYGeorges
Ecologists are a step closer to understanding one of nature's most extraordinary sights – the 'arribada' or synchronised mass nesting of female olive ridley sea turtles. The new study, published today in the British Ecological Society's Journal of Animal Ecology, is the first to combine three different approaches – genetics, demography and behaviour, and the results should help conserve these vulnerable marine creatures.
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The study, lead by Virginie Plot of the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) in France, gathered three sets of data. First, to get an accurate estimate of the size of the olive ridley population in French Guiana, the ecologists monitored nesting beaches at Cayenne and Remire-Montjoly every night during the nesting season (May to September) each year between 2002 and 2010.
Then, to learn more about how the turtles behave before coming ashore, they attached satellite data loggers to the shells of 10 individuals. By recording data every 10 seconds and sending them by satellite every time the turtles surface for breathing, these units gave a detailed picture of the turtles' geographic location, the depth and duration of their dives and the temperature of the water.
Finally, the team took skin samples from the turtles so they could investigate the variability of their DNA. These tests reveal the genetic diversity of the population and also allow researchers to estimate past population levels.
The results show that although olive ridley numbers in French Guiana have increased during the past 10 years, the population suffered a massive collapse in the past 2,000 years.

　　These are Olive ridley turtle hatchlings in French Guiana. Credit: Copyright: Sébastien Barrioz, Kwata
According to Ms Plot: "Looking at the DNA of these turtles tells us that they come from a much larger population, one that has collapsed by 99% over the past 2,000 years. This is one of the sharpest collapses ever reported in large species and their population in French Guiana remains at a critical level."
The researchers found that even though fewer than 2,000 olive ridleys nest in French Guiana, they still synchronise their breeding, all leaving the sea to lay their eggs on the beach on the same nights. Until now, this behaviour had only been recorded among large populations of olive ridleys in India, Costa Rica and Mexico.
And thanks to the data loggers, the researchers gained a unique insight into how the turtles behave at sea between successive nesting events. During the first part of the nesting season individual turtles show a wide range of diving behaviour. Then, triggered by a cue that remains a mystery, they all start behaving in the same way, returning to the nesting beach and performing regular, systematic and shallow dives.

Gopher tortoise survival.

Nearly 20 percent of Mobile County, Alabama’s population lives below the poverty level. Low incomes have created a demand for small, affordable house lots, fragmenting the longleaf pine habitat essential to the threatened gopher tortoise. Much of the undeveloped habitat is in poor condition because of inadequate management.
Afraid it would run afoul of the Endangered Species Act, Mobile County stopped issuing building permits in 1999 for areas with tortoise populations. Besides being controversial among landowners and developers, it quickly became apparent that a moratorium by itself would not improve gopher tortoise survival.
The Mobile Area Water and Sewage System (MAWSS) proposed that the County establish a “conservation bank” on properties around its reservoir. The “bank” is a large piece of property that can be managed more effectively than a smaller number of unconnected tracts. Landowners and developers who had tortoise habitat on their property could purchase credits to fund management at the “bank” and to continue building. The MAWSS could also use credits to add more land to the bank, expanding its quality habitat that more than makes up for land lost to development.
In 2001, about 220 acres of longleaf pine habitat became the gopher tortoise conservation bank. Today, more than 55 bank credits have been sold for $3,500 per credit. As the bank’s owner, MAWSS finances tortoise conservation on its lands while helping to avoid a costly endangered species controversy.
Environmental Defense assisted in designing the conservation bank and drafting its habitat conservation plan. The USDI Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) works with MAWSS to manage the bank and monitor the tortoise population. The University of South Alabama also monitors the bank, while a science advisory board assists with the bank’s operation.

Give the tortoise inoculated

　　It’s 5 a.m. and a busy morning for the staff at the San Diego Zoo Desert Tortoise Conservation Center (DTCC) in Las

　　Pamela carefully places a desert tortoise into the Mojave Desert.
Vegas, Nevada. We are anxious for the big day ahead, because it’s time for our fall translocation of desert tortoises back to the Mojave Desert, where they will live freely in their native habitat.
This day begins unlike most days in the Las Vegas Valley; the air is cool, and dark, ominous clouds linger over the city. As our mini-caravan of 3 vehicles, 10 people, and 72 tortoises head south on the I-15 toward the U.S. Fish & Wildlife-approved release site, we enjoy a torrential downpour of rain! The clouds are so dark, and the wind and rain are so strong, that it’s difficult to see the vehicles ahead of us. It has been a long, hot, dry summer, and we are thrilled to see the rain, but we think that perhaps this may not be the best day for hiking and releasing tortoises. But only moments later the storm passes, the skies are clear, and it’s another beautiful morning in the Mojave Desert.

　　The DTCC team provides fluids to a tortoise about to be released.
When we arrive at the release site, DTCC staff members administer fluids to the tortoises, ensuring they are well hydrated for their new journey. We take our time, because we want to give every tortoise the best chance of survival, and providing them with these extra fluids may carry them through a period of unexpected drought in the months to come.
Once the final tortoise is released, we take a deep breath, admire the beautiful landscape, and head back to civilization. But on the way, we discovered a wild tortoise crossing a paved road. Normally, we would watch the tortoise from a distance, ensuring its safe arrival to the other side of the road, but not this time. In the distance we see a fast-moving vehicle heading straight toward us, so we immediately jump out of our truck, and Paul, one of our seasonal research assistants, quickly but carefully moves the tortoise off the road to safety several hundred yards into the desert. What a great way to end the day; we saved a wild tortoise from possible injury or death.

　　The desert tortoise moments before its rescue from an oncoming vehicle.
Every translocation we conduct takes place at a release site here in southern Nevada that is approved by our partners at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the Nevada Department of Wildlife, and the Bureau of Land Management. The San Diego Zoo is the only organization approved by USFWS to return desert tortoises to the desert; that’s because we put tortoises through a full battery of medical and behavioral tests for at least a year to ensure they are completely healthy before they leave the facility.

This newborn Galapagos tortoise

　　This newborn Galapagos tortoise looks tiny as it stands next to its massive mum - who is a staggering 3,000 times bigger.
The hatchling weighed just 87 grams when it was born and will take 30 years to get to the same size as its mother, who is a massive 256 kilos.
Keepers will not know if it is male or female for several years so have given it the unisex name NJ.
The tortoise - who is barely the size of its mum's foot - can expect to live to 150 years.

　　Hello titch: This newborn Galapagos hatchling weighed just 87 grams when it was born and will take 30 years to get to the same size as its mother
Its mum has become a first-time mother at the age of 90 but will play no role in its up-bringing.
As soon as a Galapagos tortoise is born they are left to fend for themselves.
The youngster is now roaming around its pen and nibbling on fruit and flowers at Taronga Western Plains Zoo in New South Wales, Australia.
Keeper Jennifer Conaghan said: 'A Galapagos tortoise can live between 100 and 150 years so we expect NJ to be around long after we have all gone.
'It loves exploring the outside environment and is especially active on warm sunny days.

　　Hungry fella: Keepers will not know if the Galapagos addition is male or female for several years so have given it the unisex name NJ
'We are very careful with NJ's diet and it currently gets fed three to four times per week.
'The diet is as varied as possible and includes a variety of edible plant species, lucerne hay, herbs and finely chopped fruit and vegetables.
'Our Galapagos tortoise are responsive to bright coloured, edible flowers and fruit, such as roses, hibiscus, grapes and watermelon. But just like any youngster we ensure the hatchling eats all the veggies first.'
The zoo has been attempting to breed the Galapagos Tortoise for the last ten years.
Jennifer added: 'It involves manipulating and fine-tuning our husbandry techniques to achieve this fantastic result.
'At the end of the day however, regardless of what we do, it is up to the individual animals compatibility.
'There has only been a handful of zoos around the world that have had success with breeding this species and we currently have more eggs in the incubator.
'The incubation process is very temperature dependant and once the female lays the eggs the incubation time may take three to five months.
'NJ weighed in at about 87gms at hatching, which is about 0.00034 per cent of the size of its mum. It therefore has lots of growing to do over the next 30 years or so until it catches up.
'Although the size difference is huge, NJ is an exact replica of the adults.
'It's amazing to think of how much growing it has to do and the challenges any young hatchling would struggle with in the wild.
'Galapagos Tortoise are very responsive to getting a rub under the chin from their keepers and will stand up and extend themselves up for as long as you want to scratch them.
'They do have loads of personality but like everything to do with them - nothing happens quickly so you just have to be a little more patient to see it.'

Africa, south of the Sahara Tortoise

　　Range: Africa, south of the Sahara
Habitat: Savannahs, Grasslands. Human Farming areas.

　　Natural Diet: Vegetarian diet, heavy in grasses.
Diet at Rain Forest: Fresh diet prepared daily of various types of greens.
Size: Females 20-25 Pounds--Males 25-60 Pounds. (record size is over 150 pounds)
Rain Forest Facts: The African Spur thigh tortoise lays a surprisingly large clutch of eggs, most tortoises lay a small number of eggs, usually 2-4, the African Spur thigh tortoise can lay as many as 20 eggs per clutch, with several clutches possible in a breeding season. The largest main-land dwelling tortoise, the African Spur Thigh Tortoise is only eclipsed in size by the island dwelling species of the Galapagos and Aldabra Islands.
Many types of animals utilize the burrows created by the digging of the African Spur Thigh tortoise. This powerful animal excavates long burrows into the soil to escape the mid-day heat of the African sun. Both vertebrates and invertebrates utilize the long burrows as shelter, the loss of such an important animal as the Spur Thigh would result in a domino effect on many other species that depend on the tortoise for shelter.

The turtle breeding methods

1 feeding

Pond turtles are in captivity, tank support, tubs raising ponds and reservoirs to support a variety of ways, each with advantages and disadvantages, you can choose according to local conditions. Specialized households in general and small-scale farms, to build ponds better, because this way, easy management, cost-effective as well.
Pond construction: pond turtles and turtle breeding pond can refer to the young turtle breeding pond and pool construction specifications and methods. Built into the turtle pool and also into a turtle pond turtle's almost, but the area can be larger, so that a greater number of turtle farming. If the turtle into a large pool, you can also fish, turtles polyculture, in the pool to support a number of herbivorous and filter-feeding fish, in order to improve overall economic efficiency of farming. Turtle will have to pay attention to holes, the features easy to escape, so the walls of the base of a wall to about 50 cm deep underground.
2 turtles feed and feeding
Turtle feeding wider, rice, wheat, peas, fish, shrimp, insects, snails, etc fine to eat pork, which is a favorite food to eat fish, fine pork, corn. Captivity, the turtles grow to meet the nutritional needs of a variety, to avoid feed a single, stunted growth and produce anorexia should be used in a variety of feed, animal feed such as fish, snails, mussels and plants, etc. feed in rice, wheat, corn and so on. To get the turtle to fully digest the feed, the feed before feeding should be subject to the corn, peas and other crushed, soaked 2 hours, and other large pieces of food also must first chopped before feeding. Should also be noted that the growth in different periods of the turtle should vote according to their growth characteristics of feed containing different nutrients.
Turtle's life and weather closely, feeding the beginning of April each year; 6 a feeding activity reached a peak in August, the fastest weight gain; to October the temperature gradually decreased to eat after the start of its decline, when the temperature dropped below 10 degrees Celsius , stop feeding into hibernation. Therefore, feeding should be based on growth characteristics of the turtle to carry out the general requirements to do the following:

1) time. Low temperatures in spring and fall, sooner or later, the turtle is not active, only in the noon feeding, it should be 8 to 9 am in the morning of feed fed. To the autumnal equinox is a turtle from the Guyu feeding season, a time filled summer, turtles generally inactive at noon, and 17 more in the afternoon feeding a 19-time activities, it is feeding a 17 to 16 in the afternoon, when appropriate. Timing can make turtle feeding time, get more nutrition, and also to ensure that feed fresh.
(2) position. Positioned along the pond shore sub-set a fixed feed point, feeding point of potable water station to close, easy to swallow water turtle bite. Positioning of feed fed to enable the turtle habit, easy to find their food, while allowing observation of turtles feeding activities and check the situation.
(3) qualitative. Feeding the feed should be kept fresh, after feeding, to promptly remove leftover residue of food, feed, to prevent rotting smelly, affect the turtle's appetite and water pollution.
(4) quantitatively. Feed ration as temperature, water quality, the turtle's appetite and activity may be in order when the appetite and activity may be, to a little rest when the meal is appropriate. Generally every 1 - 2 days feeding 1.
3. Hatchlings feeding
Newly hatched hatchling body is weak, stomach function and digestion is also weak, it should not be stocked in the breeding pool immediately, but should be well-fed and care for some alone time, to improve the survival rate of hatchlings.
Hatchlings feeding and care principles are: 1. To improve sanitation, prevent turtles sick. (2) degree of control appropriate temperature and astringent, to facilitate its normal growth. 3. Hatchlings develop gradually adapt to the environment, self-feeding. Specifically: the newly hatched hatchling first on a small glass box, let it crawl three to five hours until the hatchlings after convergence of the umbilical cord dry off, with 0.6% saline immersion moment for disinfection, then placed in glass boxes or tubs in the indoor feeding. Avoid artificial strong pull off the umbilical cord hatchling, juvenile turtles that would cause casualties. Hatchling rearing tank 1 a day changing the water 2 times, strict control of water temperature at 25 to 30 degrees Celsius, hot weather to keep the box needs to spray several times to adjust the temperature and increase oxygen in the water, the hatchlings to the normal growth under appropriate conditions. 1 one of the newly hatched juvenile turtles 2 days without feeding, 2 days after starting to feed a small amount of grain feed, after feeding a small amount of boiled eggs and comminuted fish, frog meat, sweet potato, pumpkin and other mixed feed. After 7 days of feeding, the hatchlings have relatively strong physique can be transferred to outdoor rearing pond keeping.
4 turtle feeding precautions
(1) shall turtles, turtle into the turtle and the pro-feeding sub-pool, to avoid large turtle swallowed a small turtle phenomenon, but also facilitate the identification of feed ration and feeding management, easy to observe and control the growth of the turtle.
(2) due to the mild and timid turtle, four weeks should be kept quiet and kept the pool, so as not to affect the turtle feeding, sunning, mating, spawning and other normal activities.
(3) regular replacement of keeping the pool water, keeping water clean, do a good job keeping the pool of health, to prevent the turtles to disease.
(4) pond four weeks and the sand on the open space between the walls to maintain a certain degree of humidity in the summer season, should take some cooling measures, such as watering, planting small shrubs.
(5) hibernation, check the growth of the turtle, the infirm feed Cadogan, fed turtles eating more feed, so that a large number of turtle product storage of nutrients, long strong body through the winter.
(6), when some young turtles do not know how to eat, this time, you can grab it Zuo Zhao, pull it out, then seize it Youzhao, two with mild to pull, it will be stuck head, and then clip it to light about the direction of the head, mouth, etc. It is when the shrimp (food) to go into it know what to eat, as you put the bite on two of the food will.
5. Hibernating Management
Turtles are cold-blooded animal, life influenced by environmental temperature. November to next March, when the temperature is below 10 ℃, the turtle lying in the bottom of mud or loose soil Woyu covered with straw, do not eat does not move, for hibernation, when its new array of metabolic very slow and weak. Until early April, when temperatures rose to above 15 ℃, the turtle began to resume activity and feeding so large in hibernation without feeding diets, and need not change the water, the main work of this period first heat, as in the pool four weeks and the space between the pool and the wall is covered with straw; second is to prevent the tortoise against predators.