| Chelonian (183) |  |
| Crocodilian (177) | |
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such as the giant tortoises of the Galapagos, the lemurs of Madagascar or the koalas of Australia.
whereas rats and goats that eat the food of rare tortoises are being eliminated. In other places,
In Shark Bay, green sea turtles are more willing to face risks from sharks and seek the best grazing areas when their body condition is strong.
Owen the baby hippopotamus and Mzee the giant tortoise have been friends since Owen was rescued from a reef where he was stranded during the 2004 tsunami in the Indian ocean
The frightened hippo ran right over to the surprised tortoise and hid behind him just as he would have hidden behind his mother and,
Some animals that are afflicted sometimes include cows, snakes, lizards, turtles, dogs, cats and chickens. This past week, a two-headed pig with one eye, was born on Xiao Jintu s pig farm,
and take pity on turtles, cause fender benders, pileups, and head-on collisions. They nod off at the wheel,
It s just a herd of mud-bathing tortoises. Why do you ask?..Extreme farming, where the wordhorizontal is no longer in their dictionary!..
and curb shark finning Commercial-fishing techniques are leading to the deaths of too many fish sea turtles
 The desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) actually becomes less likely to die with age. The tortoises aren't immortal of course they do still die.
But their mortality rate in youth is actually higher than their mortality rate in old age. If they make it past their younger years they're likely to keep trucking until as old as 80 years of age.
It's not only long-lived creatures like the desert tortoise that show declining or constant mortality with age.
and turtles find the river or beach where they hatched after years at sea. The distances covered by some species run into thousands of kilometres.
The overpopulation also menaces federally protected species such as snowy plovers desert tortoises and California least terns the jays eat their eggs too.
and germinate after being eaten by three types of fish one turtle and one type of bird said Sarah Sumoski a researcher at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science
#Imported Tortoises Could Replace Madagascar's Extinct Ones Two millennia ago millions of giant tortoises roamed Madagascar an island nation off the southeastern coast of Africa that is rich in species found nowhere else On earth.
Those tortoises kept Madagascar's unique ecosystem in check by munching on low-lying foliage trampling vegetation and dispersing large seeds from native trees like the baobab.
Dozens of species disappeared altogether including 17 giant lemurs three pygmy hippopotamuses two aardvarklike mammals a giant fossa (a catlike carnivore) eight elephant birds a giant crocodile and two giant tortoises.
Now researchers think they've found a way to replace Madagascar's lost giant tortoise species:
Pedrono's team has identified a very close relative of the extinct giant tortoises and they plan to transplant a few hundred of them to Madagascar to help fill the ecological gaps left by their extinct kin.
Wacky Madagascar Animals Ecological shoes to fill Using fossils from two species of extinct Madagascan giant tortoises Pedrono located a group of very similar giant tortoises living on the nearby Aldabra Atoll.
The Aldabra giant tortoise's appearance is nearly identical to that of the extinct Madagascan tortoise and preliminary DNA studies show they're also very similar genetically Pedrono said.
In fact it's likely that ancestors of the giant tortoises living on Aldabra Atoll made the 249-mile (400 kilometers) swim from Madagascar about 100000 years ago the blink of an eye evolutionarily speaking.
Since the tortoises are so similar morphologically and genetically it's likely they'll fill the same roles in the Madagascan ecosystem Pedrono said.
and multiple leaf shapes that protect young sprouts from browsing tortoises. These so-called evolutionary anachronisms could disappear altogether
if no species can fill the giant tortoise's shoes Pedrono said. To help the Aldabra giant tortoises take over for their extinct kin Pedrono's team plans to move 300 young tortoises to a nature reserve in western Madagascar where they'll live in an enclosed pen for five years.
That will give researchers a chance to monitor their eating habits and other ecological interactions before the tortoises can breed
and disperse across the island. A'welcome breakthrough'The plan seems like a good one says Elizabeth Hunter an ecologist at the University of Georgia who has studied giant tortoise restoration on the Galapagos islands
but wasn't involved in Pedrono's research. I would fully support going forward with this plan Hunter said.
Giant tortoises are good species with which to start testing these sorts of ecological replacements Hunter said.
Pedrono's team plans to do thorough veterinary checks to make sure the new tortoises aren't bringing invasive plants or exotic diseases with them to Madagascar.
Similar plans to replace missing giant tortoises have been carried out in several locations including Seychelles and the Mascarene Islands and researchers have seen very good success everywhere Pedrono told Livescience's Ouramazingplanet.
Replacement tortoises on the Mascarene Island of Rodrigues are restoring seed dispersal and grazing patterns after only seven years on the island.
The giant-tortoise-replacement scheme could also be a boon for Madagascar's ecotourism industry Pedrono said.
Based on its considerable success elsewhere and the optimistic prospects for Madagascar this proposed giant-tortoise translocation could represent a welcome breakthrough in the struggle to retain
Amazonian Butterflies Drink Turtle Tears The sight of butterflies flocking onto the heads of yellow-spotted river turtles in the western Amazon rain forest is not uncommon at least
But the reason why butterflies congregate onto the turtles may be stranger than you think: to drink their tears.
The butterflies are attracted likely to the turtles'tears because the liquid drops contain salt specifically sodium an important mineral that is scant in the western Amazon said Phil Torres a scientist who does much of his research at the Tambopata Research center in Peru
Unlike butterflies turtles get plenty of sodium through their largely carnivorous diet. Meat contains significant levels of the salt Torres told Livescience.
Butterflies Drink Turtle Tears Drinking tears Turtle tears are not the only source of such salts for butterflies;
and sweating people said Geoff Gallice a graduate student of entomology at the Florida Museum of Natural history who has witnessed butterflies flocking to turtle tears in the western Amazon rain forest.
or have no impact on the turtles? Torres said it's not completely clear but the teary endeavor probably has little impact on the turtles other than perhaps making them more vulnerable to predators like big cats
since the butterflies can obstruct their vision. In fact the turtles blinded and drowning in butterfly kisses are sometimes easier to photograph than unadorned animals which may be able to spot an approaching photographer more easily.
The photos were taken by Jeff Cremer marketing director for Rainforest Expeditions an ecotourism company that hosts guests in the Peruvian Amazon
Gallice said based on his observations that the feeding likely does little direct harm to the turtles.
The turtles have enough tears to feed the butterflies simply because the butterflies are taking so little he said.
'Torres has witnessed also bees drinking turtle tears. Bees appear to annoy the turtles more than the butterflies perhaps due to their buzzing wings he said.
 The lack of salt in the region has driven other animals to exhibit unusual behaviors.
The Top 10 Weirdest Animal Discoveries Swabbing turtle eyeballs The butterflies also may be seeking other minerals in the turtles'tears
Basically we have to go start swabbing turtle eyeballs and see what we get. The tear-drinking phenomenon doesn't appear to take place often outside this region.
I have been studying turtles in the wild from the northern U s. Mexico and Amazonas for over 50 years and have seen never butterflies drinking tears of turtles said Richard C. Vogt a researcher at the National Institute of Amazonian Research in Manaus Brazil.
Juarez Pezzuti a turtle specialist at Brazil's Federal University of Parã¡hasn't seen it either.
However neither he nor Vogt doubt that it happened and they said it makes sense as some turtles eliminate excess salt through their tears.
Emailâ Douglas Mainâ or follow him onâ Twitterâ orâ Google+.+Follow us@livescience Facebookâ or Google+.
a critical nesting area for hawksbills olive ridley sea turtles and green turtles; and a seascape with relatively unexplored reefs.
Crocodiles lizards turtles pythons and other reptiles also thrived during this period. As for vegetation it was limited fairly in many areas.
Charles darwin dined on all the species he described including more than 40 tortoises. Technological advances mean today's scientists can sample Antarctic ice cores ancient water invasive species
Rattlesnake Sliders & Goat Penis: Photos of Exotic Food However one true tale of a Pleistocene repast comes from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Paleontologist Dale Guthrie
He also studies turtles and other reptiles. One of his primary work sites is Kaziranga National park. The area's rich biodiversity has earned it recognition as a UNESCO World Heritage Site
while the rat population continued to soar the mongooses proceeded to destroy Hawaii's native bird and turtle populations.
These new findings support a 2012 report of a bee sipping the tears of a yellow-spotted river turtle in Ecuador's Yasunã National park. Similar findings were seen with butterflies drinking the tears of yellow-spotted river
turtles in the Amazon. When de la Rosa did research online he was surprised to find more evidence of tear-drinking than he expected not only from scientists but also casual tourists wilderness enthusiasts and professional photographers.
However I've seen these bees approach river turtles and the turtles are not as tolerant
or pleased shaking their heads and eventually even jumping back on the water. The insects definitely seem to benefit
Leatherback turtles If any animal seems built for wearing a backpack it's a turtle. Researchers at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental science outfitted some leatherback turtles with backpacks that contained satellite-tracking devices.
The researchers monitored the animals near Costa rica Mexico Indonesia and off the California coast and identified danger zones where extensive fishing may harm the turtles according to Discovery. com. Dragonflies In a laboratory in Ashburn Virginia researchers are studying dragonflies by strapping tiny backpacks to the insects.
The diminutive luggage records the signals from an insect's nerve cells while it's chasing after its prey National geographic reported.
The new work suggests that early cultures were global warming turtles slowly raising temperatures by adding carbon dioxide and methane (both greenhouse gases) to Earth's atmosphere over thousands of years.
In this layer of stone and dirt scientists have discovered the fossils of ancient turtles crocodiles croc-like champsosauruses as well as dinosaurs including Tyrannosaurus rex and the three-horned Triceratops horridus.
They are slow-moving creatures comparable to land turtles. The easiest way to avoid a coconut crab injury?
#What Do Turtles Eat? Turtles like the humans who love them are a diverse bunch.
There are over 300 species of this ancient reptile and each one has preferred its own diet.
Some turtles are carnivores while others follow a strictly vegetarian diet. Most turtles however are omnivores eating both animals and plants.
What a turtle eats depends on its species specifically what kind of jaw it has for masticating (chewing) food where it lives and
what food sources are available to it. Sea turtles depending on the species may eat seagrasses algae sponges sea squirts squid shrimp crabs jellyfish cuttlefish or sea cucumbers.
For instance leatherback sea turtles (Dermochelys coriacea) which can reach a whopping 1100 pounds (500 kilograms) use their scissorlike jaws to munch on a jellyfish-only diet according to the Sea turtle Conservancy.
Green sea turles (Chelonia myadis) on the other hand are herbivores that feed on algae and seagrasses. A freshwater turtle's diet is varied
just as and may include worms snails insect larvae aquatic insects crustaceans water plants algae and fallen fruit.
Some species of freshwater turtles such as snapping turtles also eat small mammals frogs snakes fish and even other smaller turtles according to Connecticut's Department of energy and Environmental Protection.
Terrestrial turtles also eat a variety of foods from earthworms grubs snails beetles and caterpillars to grasses fruit berries mushrooms and flowers.
Both aquatic and land turtles have been known to eat carrion (decaying flesh) when it's available.
Many species of turtles are kept commonly as pets and just like their wild cousins they eat a diverse range of foods.
Commercial turtle pellets and fish pellets as well as gut-loaded insects (bugs with nutrient-rich diets) earthworms and small fish are sold often as turtle food at pet stores.
Turtle owners should speak with a veterinarian or other professional when planning a diet for their pet as the diets of captive turtles also vary by species. Follow Elizabeth Palermo on Twitter@techepalermo Facebook or Google+.
+Follow Livescience@livescience. We're also on Facebook & Google+e
#Digging into Probiotics: Experts Look at Foods'Bacteria & Health Claims The term probiotic is misused so often that a group of experts has taken a fresh look at what probiotics really are examined
and what scientists have learned about them in recent years. Probiotics are thought generally of as the good bacteria in the body.
This included diverse small animals such as hares fish turtles hedgehogs and partridges as well as larger prey such as deer boars horse goats sheep extinct wild
when a 600-year-old canoe with a turtle carved on its hull emerged from a sand dune after a harsh storm.
The turtle carving on the boat also seems to link back to the settlers'homeland.
Turtle designs are rare in pre-European carvings in New zealand but widespread in Polynesia where turtles were important in mythology
and could represent humans or even gods in artwork. In many traditional Polynesian societies only the elite were allowed to eat turtles the study's authors noted.
Shifty winds A separate recent study examined the climate conditions that may have made possible the long journeys between the central East Polynesian islands and New zealand.
and more than 850 in neck snares including mountain lions river otters pronghorn antelope deer badgers beavers turtles turkeys ravens ducks geese great blue herons and even a golden eagle.
and trees and competing with native fauna, such as giant tortoises. After having eradicated pigs from the island,
says Geoff Ridley, ERMA's acting general manager of its new organisms group. Agresearch currently holds two approvals to develop and test GM cattle in containment.
After the iconic giant tortoise died last month, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa mourned the reptile s loss in an address to the nation,
George was the last of the Pinta tortoises (Chelonoidis abingdoni), and it is too soon to know
George s death is already offering hope for other giant tortoises. Last week, Nature joined experts in Puerto Ayora on the island of Santa cruz for an international workshop dedicated to the memory of Lonesome George. The meeting aimed to galvanize efforts to prevent the loss of other Galapagos tortoise
species and their habitats.""One species is very important, but most important are the ecosystems,
Within hours, Llerena was helping to carry the tortoise s corpse, trussed onto a wooden frame, into a chilled storage chamber.
Cruz found nothing obviously wrong with the tortoise; she concluded that he probably died of natural causes.
ten species of Galapagos tortoise remain. The reptiles populations have suffered as a result of hunting, habitat destruction and the introduction of destructive species over the past few hundred years;
but with a tortoise typically taking 20-30 Â years to reach sexual maturity, recovery has been very slow.
will be a single set of recommendations that can be delivered to the Galapagos National park. The meeting also began work to review the status of the Galapagos tortoises on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of threatened species
. The tortoises Red List entries date from 1996 and are need in urgent of revision, says Peter Paul Van dijk, co-chairman of the IUCN/Species Survival Commission Tortoise and Fresh  water Turtle Specialist Group,
who attended the meeting. Some Galapagos tortoises could have their threat categories downgraded. But the Pinta tortoise  still listed as Extinct in the Wild  will be recategorized as Extinct.
To some visitors, the giant tortoises on one island of the Galapagos might look much the same as those on another.
But as Charles darwin came to appreciate after his brief sojourn in the Galapagos in 1835,
each island or main volcano seems to have its own distinct type of tortoise, and all are diverging into separate species. Genetic differences suggest that Lonesome George s own ancestors somehow travelled to Pinta from the island of Espa  ola about 300,000  years ago,
and had been diverging from their relatives ever since. From a management perspective,"each island is totally different,
who was one of the first researchers to carry out an in depth study3 of the behavioural ecology of giant tortoises, in the early 1980s."
In a study4 based on blood samples from a few dozen individuals, she found evidence that tortoises from Espa  ola and San Crist  bal had crossed more than 250  kilometres
in an effort to locate the Floreana-and Pinta-like tortoises. In theory, these animals could be taken off Wolf volcano for captive breeding.
and has been without tortoises for more than 150 Â years. But the Floreana-like tortoises on Wolf could help with a long-term project to restore the island s ecology.
The situation on Pinta is more urgent and waiting for a captive-breeding programme to bear fruit may not be an option.
but without tortoises  once the island s dominant herbivore  there is a danger that some plant species could be choked out and lost.
If a rapid solution cannot be found using tortoises of Pinta pedigree, it looks increasingly likely that conservationists will introduce a species from another island."
"Given that tortoises from Espa  ola founded the original population that landed on Pinta
and evolved into the Pinta tortoises, I don t see a problem with us repopulating that island with Espa  ola tortoises,
says Cayot. The Espa  ola tortoise was once on the brink of extinction, but now there are more than 1, 700 of the reptiles,
and conservationists can afford to consider transferring some of them to Pinta. This kind of deliberate introduction is unprecedented in the Galapagos,
As a precursor experiment, almost 40 Â sterilized hybrid tortoises have been introduced to Pinta and are being tracked by satellite to see what impact they have on the ecosystem.
For Cayot, introducing a breeding population of tortoises to Pinta is a much more rational proposal than a plan that relies on cloning Lonesome George."In 100,000 Â years, through evolutionary processes,
we ll have a Pinta tortoise in Galapagos, she says.""100,000 Â years is a time frame
Luis Javier Sandoval/Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2013'Dive buddy'by Luis Javier Sandoval depicts an endangered green turtle (Chelonia mydas.
One additional worry is that a weakening and eventual reversal in the field would disorient all those species that rely on geomagnetism for navigation including bees salmon turtles whales bacteria and pigeons.
and turtles are going to be confused very. Just when this will happen how long it will take and
So do sea turtles whose long lives which can easily exceed a hundred years means a single generation could feel the effects.
and feels exaggerated like the tortoise and the hare but plays on people's positive conceptions of space exploration:
When bloodletting Europeans stumbled on Turtle Island North america shores the Landowner North american Amerindians had a complete Pharmacopea inferiorly chemically immitated
When bloodletting Europeans stumbled on Turtle Island North america shores the Landowner North american Amerindians had a complete Pharmacopea inferiorly chemically immitated
Sometimes it s the work of external forces as with the atomic testing that gave rise to Godzilla in the original 1954 film and the glowing ooze that turned garden-variety turtles into man-size martial artists.
In reality the road to monstrous success would be paved with the corpses of almost-Godzillas and near inja Turtles.
and small turtles that are preserved with it in the Two Tree Site fossil deposit. The oldest platypus fossils come from 61 million-year-old rocks in southern South america.
Snakes turtles prairie chickens and other nesting birds are less likely to be destroyed during fall and winter burns as wildlife is often hibernating underground
Lagoons are known to be ecologically important to a variety of mobile species including manta rays sharks turtles and dolphins.
Previous studies by Eberle and colleagues showed the fauna there included ancestors of tapirs hippo-like creatures crocodiles and giant tortoises.
and moths in the Amazon feeding on the tears of turtles and a few caimans. Tear-drinking lachryphagous behavior in bees had only recently been observed by biologists.
He remembered a 2012 report of a solitary bee sipping the tears of a yellow-spotted river turtle in Ecuador's Yasunã National park
and Tribulations story about the Ecuadorian bee and the river turtle by Olivier Dangles and JÃ rã'me Casas in ESA's Frontiers.
#Strange bird, sea turtle hatchlings released on protected Indonesian beachworking on a remote and protected beach in Indonesia conservationists from the Wildlife Conservation Society
and PALSÂ#local partner organizationâ#ecently celebrated the release of rare animal hatchlings into the wild part of a plan to save the olive ridley sea turtle
which quickly flew into the forest and 34 newly hatched olive ridley sea turtles which crawled into the sea.
â#oethe joint release of maleos and olive ridleys on the same day is a boost to the conservation of both species in Sulawesiâ#said Noviar Andayani Country Director for WCSÂ##s Indonesia Program
Nest abandonment is normal for sea turtles such as the olive ridley one of three threatened sea turtle species known to nest on the Binerean Cape area.
Weighing up to 100 pounds the olive ridley is one of the smallest sea turtle species . Although widely distributed throughout the tropical and subtropical seas of the world the olive ridley turtle is listed still as Vulnerable on IUCNÂ##s Red List.
The species is threatened by egg harvesting and direct hunting. â#oethe round-the-clock monitoring of maleo and sea turtle nests on this protected beach prevents the exploitation of these species a threat that still frequently occurs at other sitesâ#said Dr. Peter Clyne Deputy
Director of WCSÂ##s Asia Program. â#oewe hope to extend the program to adjacent coastal areas
marine turtles fruit bats free-range pigs and chickens rather than primarily relying on growing crops for human food and animal fodder.
and greater access to protein from sources such as tortoises pigs and chicken than women did.
Along with the eggs and nestlings of greater sage grouse ravens also prey on the federally endangered Desert tortoise the endangered San Clemente Loggerhead shrike and the California Least Tern.
and American samoa because little is known about sea turtles and their habitats. Sea turtles at Palmyra Atoll forage in a unique environment currently removed from pervasive human influence.
As part of the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation (CBC) s Sea turtle Research and Conservation program, our program goals here are to study sea turtle distribution and abundance, focusing on ecological interactions, behavior, conservation, health issues,
and connectivity or migratory linkages to other sites. We want to know more about these reptiles where they are unaffected relatively by people
and hopeful that the research conducted by the CBC will contribute to the conservation of endangered sea turtle species. Each visit reaffirms my commitment to the incredibly important field of biodiversity conservation
turtle pond and planting areas for each grade to grow flowers. Photo: Georgina Abella We really thought it appropriate to expand into something that could be an entirely new curriculum,
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