GlassesUSA.com, the largest online eyewear retailer, announces the launch of its limited edition Save the Tortoise Collection in honor of World Turtle Day 2023 on May 23rd. This new collection features 13 unique tortoiseshell style frames, each one directly inspired by a specific tortoise facing extinction. With over 1 million pairs of tortoiseshell frames sold […]
Tag: giant tortoise
Interesting Animals to Watch at the Zoo
Have you ever visited a zoo only to find that all the animals are sleeping or inside their shelters? Visiting early in the morning is a good way to help ensure the animals are active and awake, but nothing will guarantee active animals. However, no matter when you visit or what the weather is like, […]
Tortoises In The Galápagos Face Greatest Threats In Decades, Despite Laws Against Killing Them
As many as 2,000 unique species make their home in the Galápagos Islands. These animals cannot be found anywhere else, and are growing increasingly rare. Among those animals are several species of giant tortoises, as Natural Habitat Adventures reports, herbivorous reptiles that can weigh around 600 pounds and live up to 120 years. Tortoises are […]
4 Galápagos Tortoises Found Dead in Ecuador Believed to be Hunted For Meat
Ecuador is investigating the deaths of 4 Galápagos tortoises that they believe were hunted and eaten. Although killing Galápagos giant tortoises has been prohibited since 1933, the population continues to decline. Experts estimate that there are only about 15,000 giant tortoises left compared to a whopping 200,000 in the 1800s. The carcasses were found on […]
Fernandina Island Tortoise Is Not Extinct, New Study Confirms
Fernandina Island is an active volcano that stands alone on western periphery of the Galapagos Archipelago and is reputed to be the largest pristine island on Earth. Since 1906, evidence has accrued that a mysterious species of giant tortoise might exist on the island. A single specimen of a species named Chelonoidis phantasticus (the fantastic […]
Wild release marks return of giant forest tortoises to Bangladesh hills
Bangladesh’s population of one of the world’s largest tortoise species received a boost last month when researchers and villagers released 10 captive-bred juveniles into the evergreen forests of the Chattogram Hill Tracts. This initiative, in the rugged mountain range in the extreme southeast of the country bordering Myanmar and India, was the first rewilding of […]
European tuna boats dump fishing debris in Seychelles waters ‘with impunity’
In 2019, when Jeremy Raguain turned up for a cleanup campaign on Aldabra Atoll, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, he bagged a marine monstrosity like no other: a beached fish aggregating device, or FAD. It was a massive tangle of buoys, netting and fishing ropes weighing hundreds of kilograms. The fishing aid, like most FADs, […]
Lemurs and giant tortoises among species at risk if global heating hits 3C
Unique island species including lemurs and the Galapagos giant tortoise could be at high risk of extinction if the planet warms by more than 3C above pre-industrial levels, new research warns. Analysis of 270 biodiversity hotspots suggests almost half of endemic marine species and 84% of endemic mountain species will face extinction if the planet […]