The great barrier reef that harbours a substantial amount of aquatic life is under threat from climate change and a careless disregard for the environment. As one of the one of the seven wonders of the world and being the largest living organism on this planet, the great coral barrier reef is home to many […]
Tag: turtle
Land reclamation in Malaysia puts endangered turtle at risk
Melaka – The expanse of sand stretches hundreds of meters in both directions, featureless and flat, its dusty monotony alleviated only by the excavators, trucks and dredgers that dump sand and rocks into the sea and smooth out the newly-created land. Billboards surrounding one site tout an aspirational dream of stylish apartments, luxury hotels and […]
How to catch a poacher using fake eggs
Sometimes life really does imitate art. In the fourth season of the hit TV show, Breaking Bad, police put GPS devices on barrels of methylamine to try and track the show’s protagonists to their meth lab. Inspired by the episode, Kim Williams-Guillen, a conservationist with Paso Pacifico, decided to take the concept one step further: […]
Peninsula Cooter
For a while now I’ve been trying to learn my turtles. There aren’t too many species to see here, but they all look so similar to me it’s hard to tell them apart. But these Peninsula Cooters are frequently seen at Mead Gardens, and they often sit in beautiful settings. […]
A Walk in Central Park
Last week I led a nature walk in Central Park for the American Museum of Natural History’s Membership Department. Even though I got rained on twice, there was a lot to see. Here are some of the wild creatures that were in the park on Wednesday. Turtles were basking in The Lake. Red-eared sliders are […]
China’s boom may mean doom for turtles
For thousands of years turtles have been used in Chinese traditional medicine to treat a wide variety of ailments and diseases. Originally published in the journal Radiata and recently republished HerpDigest David S. Lee and Liao Shi Kun write, “[In Chinese culture] turtles are symbolic of long life, personal wealth, fertility, strength, and happy households.” […]
Photos: mass turtle hatching produces over 200,000 babies
Biologists recently documented one of nature’s least-known, big events. On the banks of the Purus River in the Brazilian Amazon, researchers witnessed the mass-hatching of an estimated 210,000 giant South American river turtles (Podocnemis expansa). The giant South American river turtle, or Arrau, is the world’s largest side-necked turtle and can grow up to 80 […]
Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge
Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge is only 25 miles from New York City in Vernon, New Jersey. It’s a great place for a day of strolling and wildlife spotting.There are duck blinds,roads and trails, wildflower fields, and boardwalks over marshes. Wood ducks and eastern bluebirds are some of the wildlife rock stars that breed in […]