82 sea turtles hatch at SeaWorld
Last month, 82 Green sea turtles hatched at SeaWorld in San Diego, California.
The eggs hatched on Shipwreck Beach and the youngsters didn’t need any human aid to get out of their shells and into the water. The park had decided to let nature take its course by refraining from incubating the eggs or help the hatchlings emerge.
Dragonfly nymphs responsible for the lack of frog legs (but frogs infested with nematodes may have a few to spare)
One of the most controversial environmental issues of the past decade now seems to have been solved thanks to the consolidated efforts of one U.S. and one U.K. researcher.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, researchers started getting reports of numerous deformed wild frogs and toads. Many of them missed a limb partly or completely, while others – even more strikingly – had extra legs or extra arms.
Timer saves turtles?
A Cape Cod company is now launching a timer that might help save dwindling populations of sea turtles from being decimated by fishing nets.
The new device is a 7-inch (18 cm) long silver cylinder capable of keeping track of how long a net has been submerged. Federal research indicates that a vast majority of entangled sea turtles will survive if they are rescued and given a chance to breath within 50 minutes.
Hawksbill turtle released back into the wild after eight months of rehabilitation
The juvenile Hawksbill turtle found near-dead 8 months ago with a plastic shopping bag lodged inside her belly has made a remarkable recovery and has now been released back into the ocean. The Hawksbill turtle is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List of ThreatenSped ecies, so each specimen that can be rescued is important for the population.
Mexico requests Emergency Rule to Protect Sea Turtles
After a request from the Mexico Fishery Management Council, NOAA’s* Fisheries Service announced an emergency rule to protect the threatened sea turtles living in the Gulf of Mexico.
The emergency rule, which was announced on April 30, will take effect on May 18. …..
A new problem in Lake Victoria
Lake Victoria, the world’s second largest lake and the world’s largest tropical lake, has long been plighted by environmental problems caused by pollution and exotic species being introduced to the lake. On of the most well know of these problems was the introduction of Nile perch to the lake; a large predatory fish that all but wiped out the lakes wide variety of native, endemic species.
Axolotl facing extinction in the wild
Deteriorating water quality, invasive species and the practise of draining lakes is now bringing the axolotl, a neotenic mole salamander native to central Mexico, to the brink of extinction. According to researchers the species could disappear in just five years and it is currently listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
GPS tagged turtle ruins criminal master plan
This August, a turtle decided to take a stroll through a cannabis garden in a secluded part of one of America’s public parklands. This wouldn’t have been a problem for the resourceful horticulturist responsible for the plantation if it hadn’t been for the fact that this particular turtle was fitted with a GPS tracking device and followed by a park ranger. When the park ranger realised that the turtle had led him to an outdoor hydroponics lab, he contacted the police who stalked out the patch and eventually arrested its illicit gardener.
Crocodile kills worshipper
A 25 year old worshipper was killed and eaten by a crocodile in Bangladesh last week. The death took place in a pond next to a shrine and the man was seeking the crocodiles blessing when he was killed.
The man had travelled 50 km to visit the shrine with his mother. The shrine […]
Fossilized “Frogamander” found in Texas
A newly investigated 290 million year old fossil may be an evolutionary missing link in the amphibian family tree. The fossil was collected in Texas by a palaeontologist with the Smithsonian Institution in the mid-1990s. The fossil eventually ended up at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., where it was re-discovered […]
Turtle Moves on from a Life of Crime, to a Life of Luxury
Alligator Snapping Turtles carry a reputation of fear, weighing in at over 200 lbs (90 kg) and packing a bite that earned the word Alligator in its name. Perhaps, the last place you would expect to find such a fearsome reptile, would be in the bustling city of New York. That is unless, like 45lb […]
Presumed extinct turtle turns out to be extant
During recent years, a lot of fascinating discoveries have occurred in Vietnam and now scientists from the Cleveland Zoo claim to have discovered a Swinhoe’s giant turtle living in a lake in the northern parts of the country. According to an article from the BBC, the team from Cleveland spent three years looking for the […]