Turtles Invade JFK Airport Tarmac

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/09/turtles-invade-jfk-airpor_n_228527.html

NEW YORK (AP) -- A runway at John F. Kennedy International Airport was shut down briefly Wednesday morning after at least 78 turtles emerged from a nearby bay and crawled onto the tarmac.

Ground crews eventually rounded up the wayward reptiles and deposited them back in the brackish water farther from airport property, but not before the incident disrupted JFK's flight schedule and contributed to delays that reached nearly 1 1/2 hours.

Read on...

Dogged Turtle Search- Wild home of rare Vietnamese box turtle discovered (Via Herp Digest)

Dogged Turtle Search- Wild home of rare Vietnamese box turtle discovered
by David Malakoff April 25, 2011, based on paper cited below.

A trio of turtle-sniffing dogs - and some clever detective work - has enabled researchers to discover where a rare Vietnamese turtle makes its home in the wild. The find could help preserve the endangered species, which had been known only from Asian markets.

Asia's turtles are facing a severe "crisis" due to overhunting, "and most species are now at risk of extinction," report Tri Ly and Huy Duc Hoang of Vietnam's University of Science in Ho Chi Minh City, and Bryan L. Stuart of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, in Biological Conservation. Adding to the problem is that some species are known only from markets and have never been studied in the wild. For instance, the Vietnamese box turtle (Cuora picturata) - a species that scientists first recognized in 1998 - only had been seen for sale in southern Vietnam.

To focus their search for where the hefty, domed reptiles were coming from, the researchers looked at genetic data and tracked patterns in the turtle trade. Eventually, they focused on the Langbian Plateau of southern Vietnam. Then, they launched three field surveys in 2010 and 2011, assisted by three dogs owned by local villagers. "Dogs are commonly used by hunters in Southeast Asia, and are more efficient than humans at locating terrestrial turtles," the team notes.

The human-canine partnership worked, turning up eight of the rare turtles. "All were located by the dogs on the floor of broadleaf evergreen mixed with bamboo forest," the researchers report. "Unfortunately, large areas of forest on the plateau are being rapidly converted to coffee plantations and other agricultural lands, and local residents harvest and sell the species to commercial traders. Only one of the three localities. is currently protected."

Still, the discovery "offers some hope in the 'Asian turtle crisis,'" they write. And it suggests that "the mysterious origins" of other turtles known only from markets could be revealed with some focused effort. For instance, three other species of very rare Asian box turtles, - Zhou's box turtle (C. zhoui), McCord's box turtle (C. mccordi), and the Yunnan box turtle (C. yunnanensis), "are known to scientists only by turtles bearing price tags."

Source: Ly, T., Hoang, H., & Stuart, B. (2011). Market turtle mystery solved in Vietnam. Biological Conservation DOI: 10.1016/j.biocon.2011.03.004

Discovery of Cuora picturata in the Wild (Via Herp Digest)

I am pleased to report the discovery of Cuora picturata in the wild based on field observations of eight turtles in southern Vietnam. This species had previously been known to scientists only from animals found in trade. The fieldwork was performed by Tri Ly, who is a Vietnamese student at University of Science, Ho Chi Minh City, with primary support from the Turtle Conservation Fund.

The in press version of the paper has been released on the journal's website. The paper and its online Appendix can be downloaded here: www.files.me.com/bryanlstuart/xpn7mn

Ly, T., H. D. Hoang, and B. L. Stuart. In press. Market turtle mystery solved in Vietnam. Biological Conservation.

Abstract

Asian turtles are overharvested for food, medicinal purposes and pets, and most species are now at risk of extinction ('Asian turtle crisis'). As a result of high levels of trade, some species of Asian turtles are known to science mostly or only from animals found in trade. The Vietnamese box turtle (Cuora picturata) was described in 1998 and is known only from markets. This species is likely to be highly threatened, and identifying the origin of this ''market species'' is imperative if it is to be conserved. We used evidence from phylogeny, biogeography and trade patterns to focus field searches for this species, and in July 2010-January 2011 found it in the wild at three localities on the Langbian Plateau of southern Vietnam. This discovery provides the first opportunity to conserve the Vietnamese box turtle, and provides hope for determining the wild origin of other rare Asian turtles that remain known only from commercial trade.

This is not the normal sort of source for news stories here on the newsblog, but having thought long and hard, it IS a news item, and belongs here rather than on the main blog. It is also jolly good news. Well done chaps JD

Just a little guy: Baby turtles, offspring of survivors of the oil spill in the Kalamazoo River, hatch (Via HerpDigest)

Just a little guy: Baby turtles, offspring of survivors of the oil spill in the Kalamazoo River, hatch

Published: Saturday, April 02, 2011, 6:00 AM Updated: Saturday, April 02, 2011, 3:18 PM

Kalamazoo Gazette

MARSHALL - Robert Doherty slowly lifts the cover on a plastic tray and carefully reaches into a small compartment, pinching a small miracle.

Between his thumb and index finger a 1-day-old box turtle hatchling stills itself, a yellow egg sac still attached to the underside of its inch-long body.

Here, in a section of the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center set up last summer in Marshall in the wake of the Enbridge Energy Partners LP oil spill, a makeshift neonatal unit has been established to care for the first generation of turtles to be born from parents affected by the spill.

And as much as the Kalamazoo River has a long way to go before it's back to its pre-spill state, these births mark an example of the resilience of the river's wildlife, a metaphor for the rebirth of the waterway after one of the worst oil spills in Midwest history.

From ducks to swans to muskrats and other species, nearly 3,000 animals that were captured last summer and fall, a vast majority having come in contact with the heavy crude oil that leaked from an Enbridge pipeline near Marshall.

But turtles took the brunt of the environmental tragedy, with community members, wildlife officials and others collecting about 2,700 of them, by far the most of all the animals captured. Of that total, about 2,100 were released back into the wild last fall after they were cleaned with, of all things, mayonnaise, which breaks down petrochemicals.

Of the turtles captured, only 10 died.

Doherty, a senior scientist and ecologist with Stantec Consulting, a multi-service engineering and environmental firm, said he believes it was the largest-ever freshwater turtle rescue operation. "The degree to which the community was involved was amazing," he said. "These hatchlings really are small miracles. They're a sign that the river is coming back."

Those turtles that were not released took refuge at the rehabilitation center for the winter. Ninety-four, 400-gallon tubs sit in a large warehouse area at the center. The sound of swirling water fills the room. At first look, the room looks like some sort of decontamination site, with each tub encircled by a white shower curtain (officials don't want the turtles getting used to seeing humans) and the rush of chilly filtered air overhead.

But behind the curtains, the survivors of the spill emerge in their artificial - but homey - habitat, complete with logs and rocks and infrared lamps to keep the cold-blooded turtles warm. In one tub, three small box turtles that had been warming themselves on a log beneath the lamp jump into the water with three small plops. In another, a 40-year-old turtle slowly extends his head from his sheath of neck skin and turns his eyes toward Doherty as if to say hello.

"We want to give them the best environment possible," Doherty said. "They deserve it." Later this month or in early May, the turtles will be released back into the wild, Doherty said. The exact location of where each turtle was collected was plotted with GPS technology, so that when they go home, they arrive at a place that's familiar.

"To be able to put these turtles back just feels really good," said Kevin O'Connor, public information officer for Enbridge.

In a dark corner of the basement of the center, beneath the lids of large Tupperware plastic bins, more miracles are occurring.

Doherty lifts the lid on one bin. Inside, a box turtle was making its slow exit from an egg. After incubating for about 50 days, it takes a turtle hatchling almost three days to fully emerge - exhausted - from the tiny egg. "Pretty neat, huh?," Doherty said. "Another miracle."