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Tag: Turtles

  • Gramma the Galápagos tortoise, oldest resident of San Diego Zoo, dies at about 141

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    LOS ANGELES — After more than a century of munching on her favorite foods of romaine lettuce and cactus fruit, beloved Galápagos tortoise Gramma, the oldest resident of the San Diego Zoo, has died.

    Gramma was born in her native habitat and was estimated to be about 141 years old, zoo officials said. She died Nov. 20.

    It’s not clear exactly when the tortoise arrived at the San Diego Zoo, but zoo officials said she came from the Bronx Zoo in either 1928 or 1931 as part of their first group of Galápagos tortoises.

    As the world changed around her, she delighted visitors with her sweet, shy personality. She lived through two World Wars and 20 U.S. presidents.

    Her care specialists affectionately called her “the Queen of the Zoo.” She was suffering from bone conditions related to her old age that progressed recently before she was euthanized, the zoo said.

    Many visitors commented on social media about getting to first visit Gramma when they were young, and being able to come back years later with their kids.

    Cristina Park, 69, said one of her earliest memories from her childhood was going to the San Diego Zoo when she was 3 or 4 years old and riding on the back of a tortoise. That’s no longer allowed, but the experience inspired her to keep a small desert tortoise as a pet and learn more about tortoise conservation.

    “Just how amazing it is that they managed to live through so much,” Park said. “And yet they’re still there.”

    Galapagos tortoises can live for over 100 years in the wild, and close to double that in captivity.

    The oldest known Galapagos tortoise was named Harriet, who lived at the Australia Zoo until the age of 175. She was collected from the Galapagos Islands in 1835, when she was just the size of a dinner plate, according to the zoo. This means that she hatched somewhere around 1830, and she died in 2006.

    Galápagos tortoises include 15 subspecies of tortoises from the islands, three of which were deemed extinct. The rest are all vulnerable or critically endangered, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

    Concerted efforts have been made to breed these tortoises in captivity over the past several decades, with more than 10,000 juveniles released to the wild since 1965, according to the Galápagos Conservancy. Some subspecies have been brought back from the brink of extinction.

    In April, four baby Galápagos tortoises were born at the Philadelphia Zoo to first-time parents that were roughly 100 years old, a first in the zoo’s history. In June, Zoo Miami resident and Galápagos tortoise Goliath became a first-time father at the age of 135.

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  • Arctic seals and more than half of bird species are in trouble on latest list of threatened species

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    Arctic seals are being pushed closer to extinction by climate change and more than half of bird species around the world are declining under pressure from deforestation and agricultural expansion, according to an annual assessment from the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

    One bright spot is green sea turtles, which have recovered substantially thanks to decades of conservation efforts, the IUCN said Friday as it released its latest Red List of Threatened Species.

    While many animals are increasingly at risk of disappearing forever, the updated list shows how species can come back from the brink with dedicated effort, Rima Jabado, deputy chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission, told The Associated Press.

    “Hope and concern go hand in hand in this work,” Jabado wrote by email. “The same persistence that brought back the green sea turtle can be mirrored in small, everyday actions — supporting sustainable choices, backing conservation initiatives, and urging leaders to follow through on their environmental promises.”

    The list is updated every year by teams of scientists assessing data on creatures around the world. The scope of the work is enormous and important for science, said Andrew Farnsworth, a visiting scientist at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology who studies bird migration and wasn’t involved with the IUCN report.

    “Every time one is done and every time there’s revision, there’s more information, and there’s more ability to answer questions” on species, some of which are still largely a mystery to researchers, Farnsworth said.

    Because all the marine mammals native to the Arctic — seals, whales and polar bears — rely on the habitat provided by sea ice, they’re all at risk as it diminishes because of human-caused climate change, said Kit Kovacs, co-chair of IUCN’s Species Survival Commission Pinniped Specialist Group, which focuses on seals.

    The three species highlighted in the latest IUCN report — harp, hooded and bearded seals — have been moved up to a designation of greater concern in the latest update, indicating they are increasingly threatened by extinction, Kovacs said.

    The same melting of glaciers and sea ice destroying seal habitats also “generally will bring escalation in extreme weather events, which are already impacting people around the globe,” wrote Kovacs.

    “Acting to help seals is acting to help humanity when it comes to climate change,” Kovacs said.

    The update also highlighted Madagascar, West Africa and Central America, where Schlegel’s asity, the black-casqued hornbill and the tail-bobbing northern nightingale-wren were all moved to near-threatened status. Those are three specific birds in trouble, but numbers are dropping for around three-fifths of birds globally.

    Deforestation of tropical forests is one of a “depressing litany of threats” to birds, a list that includes agricultural expansion and intensification, competition from invasive species and climate change, said Stuart Butchart, chief scientist at BirdLife International.

    “The fact that 61% of the world’s birds are declining is an alarm bell that we can’t afford to ignore,” Butchart said.

    The annual U.N. climate summit will be held in November in Belem, Brazil, with much attention on the Amazon and the value of tropical forests to humans and animals. But Farnsworth, of Cornell, said he was “not so confident” that world’s leaders would take decisive action to protect imperiled bird species.

    “I would like to think things like birds are nonpartisan, and you can find common ground,” he said. “But it’s not easy.”

    One success story is the rebound of green sea turtles in many parts of the world’s oceans. Experts see that as a bright spot because it shows how effective human interventions, like legal protections and conservation programs, can be.

    Still, “it’s important to note that conservation efforts of sea turtles can take decades before you realize the fruits of that labor,” said Justin Perrault, vice president of research at Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach, Florida, who wasn’t involved with the IUCN report.

    The overall success with green sea turtles should be celebrated and used as an example with other species, some of which, like hawksbills and leatherbacks, aren’t doing nearly as well, said Nicolas Pilcher, executive director of the Marine Research Foundation.

    And even for green sea turtles, areas still remain where climate change and other factors like erosion are damaging habitats, Pilcher said, and some of those are poorer communities that receive less conservation funding.

    But in the places where they have recovered, it’s “a great story of, actually, we can do something about this,” Pilcher said. “We can. We can make a difference.”

    ___

    Follow Melina Walling on X at @MelinaWalling and on Bluesky at @melinawalling.bsky.social.

    ___

    The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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  • June Cleaver the loggerhead turtle is released into the ocean off Florida after rehab

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    Marine biologists on Florida’s Space Coast have released June Cleaver, a 230-pound loggerhead turtle, back into the ocean

    MELBOURNE, Fla. — She may not wear a pearl necklace like her namesake from the TV show, “Leave it Beaver,” but June Cleaver, the 230-pound loggerhead turtle, nevertheless was happy as a clam to be going home.

    Marine biologists on Florida’s Space Coast on Wednesday released June Cleaver back into the ocean before 300 beachgoers following a two-month rehabilitation at the Brevard Zoo’s Sea Turtle Healing Center in Melbourne, Florida.

    The turtle was first observed having difficulty laying eggs in Melbourne Beach in June. The Sea Turtle Preservation Society transported her to the Healing Center, and caretakers discovered that she had been hit by a boat. They gave her several CT scans to make sure that the injury to her top shell wasn’t critical, according to the center.

    The scans showed that her wound wasn’t fatal but she needed rehabilitation. While at the center, she laid 113 eggs in a pool. Biologists buried the eggs in the beach where they are incubating, according to the center.

    The center said June Cleaver had “diva” tastes in food, preferring squid over the crabs which typically are favored by loggerheads.

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  • Hurricane Erin never hit land or caused major damage, but endangered turtle nests weren’t so lucky

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    As Hurricane Erin pelted North Carolina’s barrier islands with strong winds and waves this week, it destroyed many nests of threatened sea turtle, burying the eggs deep in sand or washing them out to sea.

    On Topsail Island more than half the 43 loggerhead turtle nests were lost in the storm, according to Terry Meyer, conservation director for the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center.

    “I didn’t anticipate the water table being so high and the eggs being just literally sitting in water when we got to them,” she said. “I don’t think I’ve seen that on such a wide scale.”

    Erin never made landfall and caused no widespread damage to infrastructure despite being twice the size of an average hurricane. But the turtles were not so lucky.

    Loggerheads, which are known for their large head and strong jaw muscles, are threatened in the U.S. due to fishing bycatch, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. They are the state’s primary sea turtle and nest every two to three years between May and August, with each nest containing about 100 eggs.

    Meyer said that in the big picture, the devastation of dozens of these nests will not have a significant impact on the species. But for the many volunteers who spend every summer helping to monitor each nest on the 26-mile (42-kilometer) beach, it’s heartbreaking.

    “When you’re digging up a nest that’s got 100 dead, fully developed, ready-to-go hatchlings — I’m old and jaded, but that can be pretty tough to handle,” she said.

    About 33 miles (53 kilometers) to the northeast, the storm likely wiped out eight of the 10 remaining loggerhead turtle nests on Emerald Isle, said Dale Baquer, program coordinator and president of the Emerald Isle Sea Turtle Patrol.

    One survived when the turtles managed to hatch Wednesday night, while another one likely made it safely through the storm because of its higher location on the dunes, according to Baquer. But there is little chance for the others, though it will not be known for sure until about 75 days into the incubation cycle.

    “They really suffered a lot of damage. A lot of high tides and a lot of sitting water. But we’re just going to remain optimistic,” she said.

    Both organizations tried to get ahead of the storm by picking up signs or extra stakes or fencing that could be washed out or cause other problems for the turtles.

    But there is little they can do given North Carolina’s strict laws about keeping the sea turtle hatching process natural.

    Baquer said the only time the group can obtain state permission to help a nest is if it knows it has already hatched or possibly if the tide hits the nest and the eggs are washing out.

    “It’s stressful and of course it’s not something you ever get used to, but I think we all have a science mindset that this is nature and this is what’s going to happen,” she said.

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  • Large desert tortoise rescued from Arizona highway after escaping from ostrich ranch 3 miles away

    Large desert tortoise rescued from Arizona highway after escaping from ostrich ranch 3 miles away

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    An unidentified driver and Arizona Department of Public Safety Sgt. Steven Sekrecki hold a rescued a sulcata tortoise that was attempting to cross Interstate 10 near Picacho, Ariz., on July 30, 2024. The motorist and Sekrecki managed to get the tortoise off the roadway unharmed. (Arizona Department of Public Safety via AP)

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  • D23 Reactions, ‘Umbrella Academy’ Finale, and ‘Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’

    D23 Reactions, ‘Umbrella Academy’ Finale, and ‘Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’

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    Steve and Jomi take this pod on the road with live reactions from D23 in Anaheim, California (3:06)! Then, the guys are joined by Jessica Clemons to discuss their grievances with the final season of Umbrella Academy (43:52). Later, listen as the trio dive into Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with their instant reactions (86:42).

    ‌Hosts: Jomi Adeniran and Steve Ahlman
    Guest: Jessica Clemons
    Producer: Jonathan Kermah
    Additional Production Support: Arjuna Ramgopal and Steve Ahlman

    Subscribe: Spotify / Apple Podcasts

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    Jomi Adeniran

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  • WTF Fun Fact 13690 – Butt-breathing Turtles

    WTF Fun Fact 13690 – Butt-breathing Turtles

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    We’ve heard of mouth breathing, but never butt breathing. Yet it turns out that turtles can breathe through their butts.

    Technically known as cloacal respiration, this biological feature allows certain turtle species to stay submerged underwater for extended periods during winter months. This essay unfolds the science behind this unusual respiratory adaptation and its significance for turtle survival.

    Unpacking Cloacal Respiration (aka Butt Breathing)

    The cloaca is a multipurpose orifice that’s found in various animals, including reptiles, birds, and amphibians, It serves as the exit point for the intestinal, reproductive, and urinary tracts. In some turtle species, the cloaca extends its utility to include respiration.

    This process involves the absorption of oxygen directly from the water through a pair of sacs located near the tail, known as cloacal bursae. These bursae are richly lined with blood vessels. They facilitate the exchange of gases much like lungs do with air.

    Cloacal respiration is especially crucial for aquatic turtles during the winter months. When temperatures drop, many turtles enter a state of brumation—a period of dormancy similar to hibernation. During brumation, turtles burrow into mud or settle at the bottom of ponds and lakes, places where they cannot access surface air for months.

    The ability to breathe through their butts allows these turtles to remain underwater throughout the winter. This helps them avoid the need to surface for air and expose themselves to harsh conditions or predators.

    Species and Significance

    Not all turtles possess this remarkable ability. It is primarily observed in certain freshwater species like the Australian Fitzroy River turtle and the North American eastern painted turtle. This adaptation highlights the incredible diversity of life and the various evolutionary paths organisms have taken to survive in their specific environments.

    For these turtles, cloacal respiration is a key to their survival in cold environments. It enables them to exploit niches that would otherwise be inaccessible.

    Implications of Butt Breathing for Conservation

    Understanding unique physiological traits such as cloacal respiration is crucial for the conservation of turtle species.

    Habitat destruction, pollution, and climate change threaten many aquatic turtles. Conservation efforts benefit from insights into turtles’ adaptive strategies. They inform habitat protection and management practices that ensure these remarkable creatures can continue to thrive in their natural environments.

    — WTF fun facts

    Source: “The secret to turtle hibernation: Butt-breathing” — PBS News Hour

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  • Exotic animals including South American ostrich and giant African snail seized from suburban NY home

    Exotic animals including South American ostrich and giant African snail seized from suburban NY home

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    NORTH BELLMORE, N.Y. — Authorities seized about a hundred animals from a Long Island home packed with exotic species — including a giant African snail, a sulcata tortoise and a South American ostrich, advocates said Friday.

    The animals, some of which are endangered species, were discovered by state and local authorities Tuesday night in the basement and backyard shed of a home in suburban North Bellmore, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) east of New York City. The menagerie’s owner was cited for 30 violations related to the illegal possession of animals, according to the advocacy group Humane Long Island.

    “He had a lot of animals that have no business being in suburbia, period. Especially not in someone’s shed or their basement,” said John Di Leonardo, the group’s president and executive director.

    The group took custody of several dozen animals, including a five-month-old, female South American ostrich — or lesser rhea — named Eddy found in the crowded basement.

    Di Leonardo said the man told him he ordered the rhea egg online while he was drunk.

    Matt Roper, director of law enforcement for the Nassau County SPCA, said he could not name the animals’ owner, who lives in the home with his parents, because the investigation was ongoing.

    Authorities said the investigation began after the man began appearing with animals at events like birthday shows and street fairs.

    A message seeking comment was left at a phone number associated with the man.

    Roper said the state’s environmental agency issued about a half dozen summonses for harboring endangered species. There also were violations of local ordinances.

    “He was very cooperative. He was scared. I believe he was way in over his head,” Roper said. “The animals were cared for. They were fed. It wasn’t the cleanest situation.”

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  • Sea turtle nests break records on US beaches, but global warming threatens survival

    Sea turtle nests break records on US beaches, but global warming threatens survival

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    INDIAN ROCKS BEACH, Fla. — Just as they have for millions of years, sea turtles by the thousands made their labored crawl from the ocean to U.S. beaches to lay their eggs over the past several months. This year, record nesting was found in Florida and elsewhere despite growing concern about threats from climate change.

    In Florida, preliminary state statistics show more than 133,840 loggerhead turtle nests, breaking a record set in 2016. Same for green turtles, where the estimate of at least 76,500 nests is well above the previous mark set in 2017.

    High sea turtle nest numbers also have been reported in South Carolina, Alabama, North Carolina and Georgia, although not all set records like Florida, where Justin Perrault, vice president of research at Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach, said the number of nests is remarkable this year.

    “We had more nests than we had ever seen before on our local beaches,” said Perrault, whose organization monitors Palm Beach County and broke a local record by 4,000 nests. “That’s quite a bit of nesting.”

    There are seven species of sea turtles: loggerhead, green, leatherback, hawksbill, Kemp’s ridley, olive ridley and flatback. All are considered either endangered or threatened. They come ashore on summer nights, digging pits in the sand and depositing dozens of eggs before covering them up and returning to the sea. Florida beaches are one of the most important hatcheries for loggerheads in the world.

    Only about one in 1,000 sea turtle hatchlings live to adulthood. They face myriad natural threats, including predators on land and in the ocean, disruptions to nests and failure to make it to the water after hatching. This year along one stretch of Florida’s Gulf Coast where 75 nests had been counted, most were wiped out by the surge from Hurricane Idalia in August.

    “Unfortunately, the nests pre-Idalia were almost all lost due to the high tides and flooding on our barrier islands,” said Carly Oakley, senior turtle conservation biologist at Clearwater Marine Aquarium.

    Female turtles generally lay eggs in a three-year cycle, leading to up-and-down years of nests, she said. “The nesting process is very exhausting and, in this break, females regain the energy to do the process again,” Oakley said.

    Climate change has added to those challenges, reducing beaches as sea levels rise and causing more powerful tropical storms. Hotter air, water and sand and changes in the ocean currents turtles use to migrate also lower the odds of surviving, according to Oceana, an international conservation group.

    Sand temperatures play a major role in determining sea turtle sex. In general, warmer temperatures produce more female turtles, and sand temperatures are projected to increase dramatically around the world by 2100, according to researchers at Florida State University.

    “So the warmer the nest is, the more likely that nest is to produce females,” Perrault said. “Additionally, hatchlings that come out of warmer nests are much smaller and often slower.”

    A study led by FSU professor Mariana Fuentes that was published recently in the Global Change Biology journal found sea turtles will have to nest much later or much earlier than they currently do to cope with changing environmental conditions.

    Even that may not be enough for every species, said Fuentes, who works in FSU’s Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science. Turtles have adapted to altered climates over millions of years, but today’s rapid changes could happen too quickly for them to evolve, she said.

    “We have found that even if they do change the timing of their nesting, that’s not going to be sufficient to maintain the temperatures of current nesting grounds,” Fuentes said.

    Sea turtle mothers already have to lumber out of the water to find a good spot to nest, which can be difficult in areas where humans have built seawalls. Some female turtles make several attempts, known as false crawls, before finding a suitable location.

    Racoons, coyotes and other predators raid the nests and hatchlings, once they dig their way out, have to crawl to the sea before being snatched up by birds and other animals. Electric lights can disorient them, causing turtles to head the wrong way on the beach instead of following light from the moon and stars. And when the lucky ones finally start swimming, hungry fish await.

    Michelle Pate, biologist at the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, said tens of thousands of hatchlings don’t make it to the water, even as nest numbers trend higher across much of the Southeast.

    “If we can’t get hatchlings to emerge and make it to the ocean, then an increase in nest numbers doesn’t help,” she said.

    The increase in turtle nests this year conceals an ominous future for the animals, Perrault said.

    “Yes, we’re seeing record numbers, but our hatchling production may not be that great,” he said. “And so in the future, 20 to 30 years from now, and these things come back to nest, we may not be seeing these record numbers that we’re seeing now.”

    ___

    AP video journalist Cody Jackson contributed from Juno Beach, Florida.

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  • Canned seafood moves beyond tuna sandwiches in a pandemic trend that stuck

    Canned seafood moves beyond tuna sandwiches in a pandemic trend that stuck

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    SAN FRANCISCO — Sardines swirling in preserved lemons. Mackerel basking in curry sauce. Chargrilled squid bathing in ink. All are culinary delicacies long popular in Europe that are now making their mark on U.S. menus.

    The country’s canned seafood industry is moving well beyond tuna sandwiches, a pandemic-era trend that began with Americans in lockdown demanding more of their cupboard staples.

    Since then, the U.S. market has only expanded, fueled by social media influencers touting the benefits of the high-powered protein food in brightly colored metal containers. On the TikTok channel Tinned — Fishionado, Kris Wilson posts recipes for quick meals, including one mixing leftover rice, soy sauce, avocado and a runny egg with a tin of smoked mussels from the Danish company Fangst.

    Tinned fish, as it’s called in Europe, is now a regular offering on menus at wine bars from San Francisco to Houston to New York, where patrons scoop the contents straight out of the can. There are even tinned fish clubs that mimic wine clubs by sending members monthly shipments of various seafood packed in various combinations of spices, oils and sauces. Videos on tinned fish, from tastings to how-to tips on cleaning the fishy smell from cans, have generated more than 30 million views on TikTok.

    U.S. canned seafood industry sales have grown from $2.3 billion in 2018 to more than $2.7 billion so far this year, according to market research firm Circana.

    Becca Millstein opened a Los Angeles-based tinned fish business in 2020 after eating more of it during coronavirus lockdowns.

    “When we were all quarantining at home, preparing 100% of our meals day in and day out, it was very time consuming to create satiating meals,” she said. “I just found myself eating so much canned fish, and at the same time, the options that I found when strolling up and down the aisles of my local grocery store just were not great.”

    Millstein lived in Spain in college and spent time in Portugal, both countries where tinned fish has long been a part of people’s diets, so she knew there were better options to be had.

    “I was eating the same canned fish that my great grandmother Rose in Brooklyn was eating in the 1930s,” she said. “I thought that was just insane.”

    Her company, Fishwife Tinned Seafood Co., set out to offer high-quality, sustainably sourced seafood.

    Millstein said she sought out canneries in Spain and Portugal and contacted fishers along the West Coast who connected her to canneries in Oregon and Washington.

    “Our mission is really to just galvanize the canned fish industry and transform and make it what we think it can be,” Millstein said, adding that means offering much more “than tuna fish sandwiches.”

    Priced from $7.99 to $10.99 per tin, Fishwife products are meant to be delicacies that can be served over rice bowls, on charcuterie boards or in salads, Millstein said. She added that her company’s sales grew by 250% from 2021 to 2022, and are on track to jump about 150% this year, though she declined to release dollar figures.

    To that end, Fishwife’s products include smoked salmon brined in salt, garlic salt and brown sugar then hand-packed into cans with Sichuan chile crisps crafted in the Chinese city of Chengdu. Its anchovies from the Cantabrian Sea are packed with premium Spanish extra virgin olive oil, sourced directly from farmers in northern Spain.

    The company’s smoked albacore tuna is caught in the Pacific Northwest, with one fishing pole at a time to minimize harm to marine species such as sea turtles, sharks, rays, dolphins and seabirds that can be caught unintentionally during commercial fishing operations.

    “These are products that you would want to serve to people who are coming over for dinner,” Millstein said. “They’re not just something that you would want to maybe like mash up really quickly and feed yourself for a quick, cheap protein fix.”

    Simi Grewal, a co-founder of the San Francisco wine shop and bar DECANTsf, said her business turned to tinned fish to feed customers partly because it doesn’t have a kitchen suitable for cooking.

    “It’s super versatile, especially when we’re talking about pairing with wine,” she said.

    Tinned fish at the shop runs anywhere from $8 for Ati Manel garfish, a needle-like fish offred in olive oil from Portugal, to $36 for Conservas de Cambados ‘Sea Urchin Caviar’ from Spain’s Galician estuaries.

    “People make a lot of assumptions about, you know, tinned fish being a cheap product. And you know, when you come here, this is a very highly curated program,” she said. “I spend hours and hours a month researching these folks and trying to find what are the newest items that they have out.”

    Maria Finn, a chef and author in the Bay Area, said tinned fish is attracting everyone from foodies in search of the newest taste to doomsdayers stocking their bunkers. She takes the mussels from Patagonia Provisions on her annual mushroom hunts for a quick lunch and keeps packed cans of Wild Planet sardines in her bag in case wildfire threatens her home.

    “I figure if anything can keep you alive for a long time, it’s going to be a tin of sardines packed in olive oil,” she joked.

    Tinned fish can last up to five years and requires no refrigeration, offering an environmentally friendly alternative to meat, which is the largest agricultural source of greenhouse gasses and has a bigger carbon footprint than any other protein source. The way humans produce and consume food contributes nearly 30% to greenhouse gas emissions, according to scientists.

    But tinned fish is not without its drawbacks.

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has cautioned people, especially pregnant women, to avoid eating too much fish, especially tuna or swordfish that may contain high amounts of mercury. But many tins contain smaller fish like sardines and anchovies that have the added benefit of being low in mercury. The canned products, however, tend to have a higher salt content than fresh seafood, health officials say.

    Greenpeace has expressed concerns about overfishing to meet the growing demand and cautions buyers to do their research to make sure the products are sustainable. Longlining is one of the most commonly used methods for fishing tuna, which can snare other species like turtles or dolphins, according to the environmental group.

    California was once home to thriving sardine canning factories in the coastal town of Monterey, which inspired John Steinbeck’s “Cannery Row.” The industry disappeared decades ago as the fish population plummeted. The canneries have long been replaced with hotels, restaurants and souvenir shops.

    John Field, a research fishery biologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service, doesn’t see large factories ever coming back, but he said the trend could help small local canneries and sustainable fishing.

    He admits thought that he’s not so sure about ordering a tin off a menu.

    “Personally, when I go out to an expensive dinner, I probably would prefer to have fresh fish than from a can,” he said.

    ___

    Watson reported from San Diego.

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  • CDC Warns: Stop Puckering Up To Your Pet Turtles

    CDC Warns: Stop Puckering Up To Your Pet Turtles

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    Getting cozy with your pet turtle might not be a good idea, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    Last week, public health officials advised people not to “kiss or cuddle” their shelled companions after a multistate outbreak of salmonella linked to tiny turtles.

    Twenty-six people across 11 states have fallen ill from the outbreak and nine had to be hospitalized. No fatalities have been reported, but more that 30% of the cases hit children under the age of 5, who can be seriously affected by an infection.

    While turtles of any size can carry salmonella, the CDC said creatures smaller than four inches long were banned by federal law in 1975 after causing “many illnesses, especially in young children.”

    A false map humpback turtle from Hamburg, Germany.

    picture alliance via Getty Images

    Still, smaller breeds are available “illegally online and at stores, flea markets, and roadside stands,” so the CDC advised people to only buy animals from reputable sources.

    The agency noted that even healthy-looking turtles can spread germs, so pet owners should be vigilant about hand-washing and general hygiene.

    It also warned against eating near pet turtles, and warned people to keep turtles out of areas where you eat, store or prepare food.

    Salmonella symptoms include diarrhea, fever and stomach cramps. While not usually serious, it can cause complications in children, older adults and people who are immunocompromised.

    Each year, 26,500 Americans are hospitalized and 420 people die from illnesses related to salmonella infections, according to the CDC.

    While turtles have a history of causing health concerns, they’re not the only pets that have been linked to salmonella outbreaks.

    Last year the CDC reported 32 illnesses stemming from contact with bearded dragons. Pet hedgehogs were linked to 49 cases from 2019 to 2020.

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  • In Panama, legal rights given to sea turtles, boosting the ‘rights of nature’ movement

    In Panama, legal rights given to sea turtles, boosting the ‘rights of nature’ movement

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    By JENNIFER McDERMOTT and ARNULFO FRANCO

    May 24, 2023 GMT

    On a Panamanian beach long after dark, a group of undergraduate students dug into the sand to excavate a sea turtle nest, their lamps casting a soft red glow as they studied eggs, inventoried the success of the hatch and checked for any surviving hatchlings stuck at the bottom of the nest. Nearby, armed members of the National Border Service stood watch for protection in an area known for drug trafficking.

    The students worked under the guidance of Callie Veelenturf, who founded a group that works to protect leatherback turtles and pushed for a new law in Panama that guarantees sea turtles the legal right to live and have free passage in a healthy environment.

    The new law “will allow any Panamanian citizen to be the voice of sea turtles and defend them legally,” Veelenturf said in a text message as she boarded a plane to Panama City after her group’s work near Armila. “We will be able to hold governments, corporations, and public citizens legally accountable for violations of the rights of sea turtles.”

    When Panama’s president signed the law in March, it was a victory for people who have long argued that wild animals should have so-called rights of nature that recognize their legal right to exist and to flourish, and allow for lawsuits if those rights are violated. Experts hope it’s part of an evolution that will see other countries take similar steps to protect species under threat.

    “Business as usual laws aren’t doing enough to protect against the extinction crisis and climate change,” said Erica Lyman, a clinical law professor and director of the Global Law Alliance for Animals and the Environment at Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon. “This is an attempt at a new kind of framing that offers hope.”

    Wildlife protection laws typically are passed because of some perceived benefit to humans, Lyman said. Panama’s law instead considers what sea turtles need and the fact that humans should curb their behavior to meet those needs, she said.

    The law gives sea turtles the right to an environment free of pollution and other human impacts that cause physical or health damage, like climate change, incidental capture, coastal development and unregulated tourism.

    What makes the law remarkable is that it explicitly says sea turtles, as living creatures, have rights, and with enough specificity that those rights can be enforced, added Nicholas Fromherz, an adjunct law professor and director of the alliance’s Latin American Program.

    Panama’s new law came after Ecuador’s highest court in 2022 ruled in a case about a monkey kept in a private home that wild animals are rights-holders under the constitutional provisions for rights of nature. That was an important step in evolving the definition of nature from a site-specific or place-based concept, to include individual wild animals, Lyman said.

    Both Lyman and Fromherz saw Panama’s law and recent judicial rulings as evidence of a trend toward safeguarding the legal rights of animals. Besides the Ecuador case, a Pakistan court in 2020 — ruling on a case that included an elephant’s captivity in a zoo — held that animals have natural rights that should be recognized. That decision sharply criticized humanity’s treatment of wild animals and drew on religious doctrine.

    “There’s energy there,” Fromherz said.

    And the movement is broader than animals. In Minnesota, for example, the White Earth Band of Ojibwe passed a tribal law granting legal rights to wild rice, then made it a plaintiff in a tribal court lawsuit in 2020 seeking to stop an oil pipeline. That lawsuit was eventually dismissed on jurisdictional grounds.

    Whether the thinking behind Panama’s law spreads more widely or not, it’s critical help for sea turtles in that country, which has some of the most important nesting spots in the world for leatherback sea turtles and hawksbill sea turtles. One beach area has about 3,000 hawksbill nests per year.

    The Sea Turtle Conservancy is already citing the new law to call for Panama’s police and natural resource managers to intervene at one critical leatherback turtle nesting site that faces intense pressure from illegal egg hunters.

    When the pandemic halted ecotourism, people who lost their main source of income began harvesting sea turtle eggs and some nesting turtles to sell for meat and their shells, said David Godfrey, executive director of the Florida-based conservancy. It became a crisis — at one beach, up to 90% of leatherback eggs were being taken, he said.

    It was already illegal under Panamanian law to take sea turtles and their eggs from national parks and protected marine areas, Godfrey said, but it was unclear whether doing so was prohibited outside of those places and the law was sparsely enforced. Turtle protection groups, including the conservancy, lobbied for legislation that would offer clear protection for sea turtles, better monitoring and enforcement mechanisms, including financial penalties.

    Panama’s law is explicit about the implications for irresponsible developers, tourism operators and others who disrupt sea turtle habitats, instructing agencies to cancel operating permits, Fromherz said. It clearly prohibits all domestic and international commerce in sea turtles, parts and eggs, with a narrow exception for subsistence use by select traditional communities, he added.

    A committee is overseeing the full implementation of the law, including research, monitoring and efforts to raise awareness and promote ecotourism as an alternative to harvesting sea turtles and their eggs.

    Laws like this are needed because recognizing that animals have legal rights opens up a pathway to safeguarding those rights and protections in court, said Christopher Berry, a managing attorney at the Animal Legal Defense Fund.

    “Making sure there is a way to actually enforce a violation of these rights when a violation happens is really an incredibly important animal law issue that doesn’t get enough attention,” he said.

    Despite ecotourism returning, Godfrey said people are still taking nesting sea turtles and eggs at greater levels than before the pandemic to sell for extra income. He expects the conservancy will try to get other countries throughout the Atlantic and Caribbean to adopt similar legislation, assuming it’s as effective as they hope.

    “These animals have a right to exist, whether or not they benefit us. They do happen to benefit us in many ways. But they have a right to exist, even if they don’t,” Godfrey said. “And it’s refreshing to see a nation take that stance.”

    ___

    Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • When you adopt a desert tortoise, prepare for a surprisingly social and zippy pet

    When you adopt a desert tortoise, prepare for a surprisingly social and zippy pet

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    PHOENIX (AP) — They’re not fluffy, they don’t play fetch and they certainly don’t roll over. But there is such a thing as a lap tortoise.

    What’s more, pet tortoises can wag their tails, will plod on up to greet you and some can even recognize their own names. The surprising warmth of this ancient cold-blooded creature has made them popular pets for families with pet dander allergies and for retirees.

    After years of living pet-free (save one vicious betta fish), my family and I decided to adopt a captive desert tortoise. Fittingly, it was a slow and steady process.

    In Arizona where we live, the state runs a captive desert tortoise adoption program. The adoption is free, but requires an application, including photos and a diagram of the tortoise’s new home. We spent hours setting up her habitat in our backyard, digging out rocks, fashioning a burrow and planting tortoise-friendly flowers.

    Building the habitat takes time. But the tortoise itself is a pretty low-maintenance pet.

    Tortoises sleep through the winter, a process known as brumation in the reptile world. They need a cozy den to keep them safe and warm. In the wild, they dig it themselves. Human-made burrows can be built out of large PVC pipes, plastic garbage cans or some cinderblocks with WonderBoard as the roof.

    For families with kids, there’s an extra benefit of the brumation process, says Lynda Misiak, who administers the desert tortoise permit process in California.

    “The tortoise is awake, they play with it, they get tired of it, it goes to sleep. It wakes up in the spring and they have a brand-new pet,” she quips.

    Desert tortoises are herbivores and munch on Bermuda grass, weeds and many native plants. They also don’t need water daily, since they’re well-adapted to their desert homes. And you don’t need a second tortoise to keep your pet company.

    “The funny thing about tortoises is they love people, but they don’t love each other,” said Sherri Graves of the nonprofit Tortoise Group, which helps people adopt and rehome tortoises.

    So why does the Arizona Fish and Game Department have an adoption program? Because of the problem of overbreeding. It’s unsafe for captive tortoises to be released into the wild, because they can spread diseases to dwindling native populations. And backyard breeding, which is now illegal in Arizona, means more baby tortoises than adoptive families. Add to that a 50-plus-year lifespan and the result is hundreds of tortoises surrendered to the state every year.

    The reptile pet trade can be fraught, with poaching a particular concern for certain turtles. So finding a reputable group to adopt from is important.

    Tegan Wolf, who runs Arizona’s adoption program, says there are roughly 200 tortoises at her center, and about 150 of them are babies.

    “People are still breeding them in captivity. They start out so small and then people don’t realize how big they get,” she said. “And then they have 15 of them roaming their backyard.”

    We met with Wolf on a recent sun-baked Arizona day when we picked up our desert tortoise, now named Dotty for the light brown spots on her shell. Dotty is about a foot (30 centimeters) long, with scrappy legs made for digging. Her neck can extend out several inches, and she has a bubblegum pink tongue that pokes out when she’s chowing down.

    Our first observation about her behavior: She’s very curious. Minutes into the drive home, she pulled herself up the side of the cardboard box she was in and stretched her head up high to see what was happening.

    Other unexpected behaviors: She was much zippier than we imagined, exploring the yard at a rapid pace. She was surprisingly friendly, trotting up to greet us when we would go out to visit her and even clambering into our laps when we sat cross-legged in her habitat. And when she sleeps, she doesn’t tuck up inside her shell, as cartoons would have us believe. Instead, she splays out, legs akimbo, head frequently lolling to the side.

    One thing to beware of: Like other reptiles, tortoises can carry salmonella. So people, especially kids, should wash their hands after touching or interacting with them.

    Dotty is an Arizona native, which means it’s relatively easy to set up a habitat that suits her needs in the Sonoran Desert. Most of her diet consists of our lawn, which she happily grazes on. The rest comes from plants in our garden or the pockets of our daughter, who picks bright yellow trumpet flowers from the schoolyard to hand-feed to her.

    But there are other types of tortoises that people keep as pets. One popular variety is the African sulcata, the largest mainland tortoise, which can easily hit 100 pounds (45 kilograms) and grow 2 ½ feet long (76 centimeters). Their size and longevity can overwhelm pet owners, and they are frequently rehomed.

    “The sulcatas are a huge problem in California,” said Misiak. “People get them, and they don’t have any idea what they’re getting into.”

    For people who live in the Southwest, Wolf says the native desert tortoises are a better fit.

    “These guys are better suited for the backyard. They don’t dig huge holes, they don’t rearrange backyard furniture” like the sulcatas can, she said. Adult desert tortoises are much smaller, reaching a bit over a foot (30 centimeters) in length and weighing about 8 to 12 pounds (3.6 to 6.8 kilograms).

    There are other varieties for those living in cold-weather climates, including the smaller Russian tortoises, which can live in heated indoor enclosures.

    One of the big things to keep in mind when taking the plunge is that a tortoise can easily outlive its owner.

    “This is a long-term commitment,” said Misiak.

    —-

    For more AP story about pets, go to https://apnews.com/hub/pets.

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  • `Look at that beast!’ Video of plump Chicago snapping turtle, dubbed `Chonkosaurus,’ goes viral

    `Look at that beast!’ Video of plump Chicago snapping turtle, dubbed `Chonkosaurus,’ goes viral

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    Footage of a plump snapping turtle relaxing along a Chicago waterway has gone viral after the man who filmed the well-fed reptile marveled at its size and nicknamed it “Chonkosaurus.”

    CHICAGO — Footage of a plump snapping turtle relaxing along a Chicago waterway has gone viral after the man who filmed the well-fed reptile marveled at its size and nicknamed it “Chonkosaurus.”

    Joey Santore was kayaking with a friend along the Chicago River last weekend when they spotted the large snapping turtle sitting atop a large chain draped over what appear to be rotting logs.

    He posted a jumpy video of the turtle on Twitter, labeling it the “Chicago River Snapper aka Chonkosaurus.”

    In the video, Santore can be heard sounding stunned by the size of the turtle, which was displaying folds of flesh extending well beyond its shell.

    “Look at this guy. We got a picture of this most beautiful sight. Look at the size of that … thing,” he says, using an expletive. “Look at that beast. Hey, how ya doing guy? You look good. You’re healthy.”

    Chris Anchor, a wildlife biologist with the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, said the snapping turtle Santore filmed is quite rare, considering its apparent size. He said it’s also unusual for the reptiles to be seen basking along rivers, but it probably recently emerged from hibernation.

    “So my guess is that this animal had crawled out of the river to try and gather as much heat as it could in the sunshine,” Anchor told WMAQ-TV.

    While it’s difficult to determine exactly how large the turtle is from the video alone, Anchor called it “a very large individual.” And he noted that snapping turtles are not picky eaters.

    “Turtles this big will consume anything they can get their mouth around,” he said, adding that anyone encountering a snapping turtle should not disturb it or try to catch it.

    “Enjoy it. Leave it alone,” Anchor said.

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  • US agency plans deeper study of sea turtles, dredging threat

    US agency plans deeper study of sea turtles, dredging threat

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    SAVANNAH, Ga. — A U.S. agency has agreed to an in-depth environmental study into whether dredging a Georgia shipping channel in the spring and summer would threaten rare sea turtles nesting on nearby beaches — a review demanded by conservationists who sued to stop the project.

    Georgia conservation group One Hundred Miles moved to dismiss its lawsuit against the Army Corps of Engineers after the agency announced Friday that it would voluntarily conduct the study. The group sued in December, asking a U.S. District Court judge to order the Corps to produce such a report.

    “The Corps has now committed to what we’ve asked for, to go back and review the science,” Catherine Ridley, a One Hundred Miles vice president, said Monday. “The science is clear: Spring and summer dredging puts Georgia’s sea turtles and decades of conservation progress at risk.”

    Environmentalists and the Army Corps have battled since 2021 over the agency’s plan to end a policy that for three decades has prohibited the dredging of accumulated sand and mud from harbors in Georgia and the Carolinas during the nesting season for sea turtles.

    In place since 1991, the seasonal limits are intended to protect sea turtles from being killed and maimed by the vacuum-like suction pumps of hopper dredges during the warmer months, when female turtles are most abundant near Southern beaches. Conservationists credit that policy with helping threatened and endangered turtle species begin a fragile rebound.

    The Army Corps said in a statement Monday that it is undertaking the fuller environmental study to “ensure robust public, agency, and stakeholder engagement” as well as “full evaluation of the impacts that this action may have to the human and natural environment.” The agency is responsible for keeping shipping channels clear of accumulated sediments to ensure safe passage for ships

    Since the 1990s, maintenance dredging in Georgia and the Carolinas has been confined to a period roughly between December and March. Giant loggerhead sea turtles, federally protected as a threatened species, typically start nesting in May. Smaller numbers of endangered green and Kemp’s ridley sea turtles lay eggs in the region as well.

    The Corps has argued seasonal dredging limits are no longer necessary. That’s because the National Marine Fisheries Service concluded in 2020 that sea turtles protected by the Endangered Species Act can likely endure roughly 150 deaths anticipated annually from year-round dredging.

    Army Corps officials have said seasonal restrictions make it difficult to compete for a limited number of contractors. They also argue that dredging windows timed to protect sea turtles ignore species such as critically endangered North Atlantic right whales, which frequent the same waters during winter.

    A federal judge in May 2021 temporarily blocked the Army Corps from conducting year-round dredging in Georgia. Last September, a different judge halted a similar plan in North Carolina. Both judges ruled that the Corps failed to adequately assess potential dangers to legally protected sea turtle species.

    In Georgia, the Army Corps responded a year later with an environmental assessment that concluded year-round dredging in Brunswick would have no significant impact on sea turtles. Last July, the agency solicited bids for dredging in Georgia that included an “optional bid item” to dredge in Brunswick between May and August during sea turtle nesting season.

    One Hundred Miles filed suit again in December, arguing the Corps’ assessment was insufficient. The group asked a judge to order the Corps to produce a full environmental impact statement — the most comprehensive type of review federal agencies can undertake to ensure projects don’t violate the National Environmental Policy Act.

    Col. Joseph R. Geary, commander of the Army Corps’ Savannah District, in March prohibited any maintenance dredging in Brunswick outside the seasonal window, pending further review. On Friday, the Corps announced that review would consist of a full environmental impact statement.

    The Army Corps said it does not know how long the more in-depth study is expected to take.

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  • ‘Mojave Max’ tortoise emerges in Vegas; latest since 2000

    ‘Mojave Max’ tortoise emerges in Vegas; latest since 2000

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    Officials in Nevada say a desert tortoise that is the focus of schoolchild predictions and local lore about the start of spring has emerged from its winter burrow at a nature preserve in Las Vegas

    LAS VEGAS — A desert tortoise that is the focus of schoolchild predictions and local lore about the start of spring has emerged from its winter burrow at a nature preserve in Las Vegas, officials said Tuesday.

    Mojave Max’s appearance above ground with burrow-mate at 3:40 p.m. Monday at the Springs Preserve marked the latest date since an annual watch contest began in 2000 for the critter compared locally with Punxsutawney Phil in Pennsylvania. Phil’s handlers said Feb. 2 that their groundhog predicted their spring wouldn’t arrive until April.

    In Las Vegas, where the threatened species’ reptilian winter rest is called brumation, the earliest a Mojave Max has emerged since 2000 was a little before noon on Feb. 14, 2005. The latest had been April 17, 2012.

    Three male tortoises since 2000 have borne the moniker Mojave Max. Today’s Max is marked with a radio transmitting device attached to his shell. The tortoise seen with Mojave Max on Monday does not have a name.

    Biologists at the Springs Preserve think this year’s exceptionally cold winter that brought frequent rain and abundant snow to mountains in the West also kept the desert surface cool later into the spring, preserve spokesman Tom Bradley Jr. said Tuesday.

    “It’s taken longer for the soil in the burrow to warm,” Bradley said. “Once it finally warmed up, Max came out.”

    The desert tortoise is considered a keystone species and an indicator of the health of a fragile desert ecosystem.

    The habits and habitat of Mojave Max, are studied by children at Clark County public and private schools, where officials say more than 4,200 students in grades K-5 entered this year’s contest to guess the day the tortoise would emerge. Officials said a winner of the 23rd annual contest will be announced soon.

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  • Nations reach accord to protect marine life on high seas

    Nations reach accord to protect marine life on high seas

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    WASHINGTON — For the first time, United Nations members have agreed on a unified treaty to protect biodiversity in the high seas — nearly half the planet’s surface — concluding two weeks of talks in New York.

    The U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea came into force in 1994, before marine biodiversity was a well-established concept.

    An updated framework to protect marine life in the regions outside national boundary waters, known as the high seas, had been in discussions for more than 20 years, but previous efforts to reach an agreement had repeatedly stalled. The unified agreement treaty was reached late Saturday.

    “We only really have two major global commons — the atmosphere and the oceans,” said Georgetown marine biologist Rebecca Helm. While the oceans may draw less attention, “protecting this half of earth’s surface is absolutely critical to the health of our planet.”

    Now that long-awaited treaty text has been finalized, Nichola Clark, an oceans expert at the Pew Charitable Trusts who observed the talks in New York, said, “This is a once in a generation opportunity to protect the oceans — a major win for biodiversity.”

    The treaty will create a new body to manage conservation of ocean life and establish marine protected areas in the high seas. And Clark said that’s critical to achieve the U.N. Biodiversity Conference’s recent pledge to protect 30% of the planet’s waters, as well as its land, for conservation.

    The treaty also establishes ground rules for conducting environmental impact assessments for commercial activities in the oceans.

    “It means all activities planned for the high seas need to be looked at, though not all will go through a full assessment,” said Jessica Battle, an oceans governance expert at the Worldwide Fund for Nature.

    Many marine species — including dolphins, whales, sea turtles and many fish — make long annual migrations, crossing national borders and the high seas. Efforts to protect them — and human communities that rely on fishing or tourism related to marine life — have previously been hampered by a confusing patchwork of laws.

    “This treaty will help to knit together the different regional treaties to be able to address threats and concerns across species’ ranges,” said Battle.

    That protection also helps coastal biodiversity and economies, said Gladys Martínez de Lemos, executive director of the nonprofit Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense focusing on environmental issues across Latin America.

    “Governments have taken an important step that strengthens the legal protection of two-thirds of the ocean and with it marine biodiversity and the livelihoods of coastal communities,” she said.

    The question now is how well the ambitious treaty will be implemented.

    The high seas have long suffered exploitation due to commercial fishing and mining, as well as pollution from chemicals and plastics. The new agreement is about “acknowledging that the ocean is not a limitless resource, and it requires global cooperation to use the ocean sustainably,” said Malin Pinsky, a biologist at Rutgers University.

    ___

    Follow Larson on Twitter at @larsonchristina and Whittle at @pxwhittle

    ___

    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • California man avoids prison after 2021 attack on tortoise

    California man avoids prison after 2021 attack on tortoise

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    Michelangelo, the 70-year-old African tortoise and San Jose preschool pet, wanders around at ARCHVET Animal Hospital in San Jose, Calif., Sunday, Jan. 31, 2021, following surgery the day before after being beaten and stabbed by an assailant. On Friday, Dec. 16, 2022, a judge sentenced the assailant to two years of probation and mandatory mental health and substance abuse treatment, according to The San Jose Mercury News. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group via AP)

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