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The Tortoise Magazine No. 11

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The Tortoise Magazine No. 11

The 11th issue of The Tortoise is here! In this year’s magazine we highlight the conservationists, artists, and scientists who have devoted their lives to awareness and conservation for turtles and tortoises. With stories about the illicit trade and the conviction of poachers, historical and current exploitation of chelonians by humans, and artistic interpretations that connect us with the natural world, readers will enjoy the diverse approaches through which today’s conservation challenges are met…

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Summer Internship

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Summer Internship

Meet our Summer Intern, Lily King! Lily is an upcoming senior at The Thacher School and her internship is focused on a more veterinary aspect of turtle conservation. Lily’s passion for animals caught our eye during her year in our Field Biology and Conservation class and this past month, she has exceeded our expectations by aiding in general animal husbandry tasks, and minor veterinary procedures under supervision that included beak trims, pit tagging, deworming and caring for animals under quarantine protocols. We also had some fun going out into the field and surveying for our native Southwestern Pond Turtles. Lily, we’ve had fun learning alongside you, thank you for your dedication to turtles and for all your help this summer!

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A Look Inside Turtle Camp

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A Look Inside Turtle Camp

Over the past three years, the Turtle Conservancy and The Thacher School have developed a partnership aimed at innovating a new kind of science curriculum that engages students in real-world turtle conservation programs through hands-on learning experiences. This summer we took it to the next level by inviting middle school students from Los Angeles County and surrounding areas to join us on a week-long adventure. The students were immersed in learning about various aspects of turtle conservation and Ojai ecology. Some specific topics that we covered include learning about individual chelonian species, conservation management techniques, egg development, the climate crisis, and the theory of convergent evolution in giant tortoises….

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Southern Pacific Pond Turtle Conservation Program

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Southern Pacific Pond Turtle Conservation Program

The TC’s Southern Pacific Pond Turtle Conservation Program has been off to a great start this season. In past posts we've chronicled our search for Southern California’s only native freshwater turtle, Actinemys pallida, at two field sites. Past sightings have been sporadic and too few to confirm the presence of a population of resident Southern Pacific Pond Turtles which are notorious for evading human detection. This changed in May. Once we were permitted to employ hands-on techniques of capturing turtles, we immediately began finding healthy adults suggesting viable populations are present in these two very different locations.

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Thacher School X Turtle Conservancy

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Thacher School X Turtle Conservancy

The Thacher School and Turtle Conservancy have reached another milestone in our partnership as we have successfully wrapped up our second full school year of teaching the Field Biology and Conservation courses!

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AZA Recertification

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AZA Recertification

The Turtle Conservancy is delighted to report that we have once again passed our AZA certification!

On April 20th, the Turtle Conservancy attended the AZA Accreditation Commission for our 5-year recertification hearing. This included an AZA accreditation committee of 13 directors, vets, and CEOs from around the country. Many were the heads of prestigious organizations like Monterey Bay Aquarium, WCS, OKC Zoo, and more and we were pleased to share that we passed our certification with a successful report.

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Thacher Course End-of-Term Recap

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Thacher Course End-of-Term Recap

The winter school term has come to an end for our Thacher School students! This has been our most abundant year yet with 28 students enrolled in our Field Biology and Conservation courses which focus on field biology techniques and conservation through the lens of turtles. Our innovative students are currently working on various conservation projects which have research, design and engineering aspects to them. This is a wonderful opportunity for students, who are especially interested in future careers in the animal field, to get hands-on experience...

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End of Year Appeal

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Here's a quick reminder: there are just hours left to send in a tax-deductible year-end gift before the end of 2021!

A donation to the Turtle Conservancy is a donation to help protect this planet from:

With nearly 70,000 acres of grasslands, rainforests, and fynbos under our protection, you can help reverse the effects of climate change. These highly regenerative ecosystems act both as a carbon sink and a means to sequester carbon. Protecting land also prevents ever encroaching slash-and-burn agriculture and cattle farming. (Photo of Sandoval Reserve and Reforestation Area by Katala Foundation)

The wildlife rangers we support safeguard some of the most endangered tortoises on the planet. Our conservation center houses hundreds of turtles confiscated from smugglers around the world. (Photo of tortoise guardians on Geometric Tortoise Preserve)

Turtle Conservancy programs hatch hundreds of endangered turtles and tortoises every year, both in the wild and at our conservation center in California. This past year we released over 4,000 Diamondback Terrapins in New Jersey. Our captive breeding efforts currently encompass 19 of the top 50 most endangered turtles and tortoises.

Your gift is an investment in people and the planet. Every bit of your support will be matched by a generous donor.

Please donate by midnight tonight and make 2021 a success for turtles!

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TC Welcomes New Turtles

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TC Welcomes New Turtles

The TC has welcomed some very unique Australian turtles to our living collection. Last week we received a pair of Mary River Turtles from Oklahoma City Zoo. This endangered species is the only member of its genus and is found—as the name suggests—exclusively in the Mary River of South East Queensland...

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Conceptual Art at UN Climate Conference in Glasgow

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Conceptual Art at UN Climate Conference in Glasgow

Climate change is the greatest threat to humanity and our planet as we know it. Turtles and tortoises are a perfect bellwether for the crisis as many aspects of their biology are directly influenced by their environment. Already, their populations are being affected, because their sex is determined by temperatures during egg incubation. If all hatchlings develop into females, reproduction will eventually cease to occur. Changing weather patterns are also accelerating loss of suitable habitat for many species to survive. The combined pressure of these changes to the environment could be catastrophic for turtles and tortoise species, of which more than half are threatened with extinction.

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October Outreach

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October Outreach

On October 16th, the Turtle Conservancy team joined the community of Ojai to celebrate one of its most historic days, Ojai Day. Ojai Day traces its origins back to 1917 and continues its annual celebration with local vendors, art exhibitions and entertainment...

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Field Biology and Conservation Through The Lens of Turtles

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Field Biology and Conservation Through The Lens of Turtles

School is back in session and once again we have teamed up with our neighbors, The Thacher School, by incorporating turtle conservation into several class curriculums. This year the Field Biology and Conservation course has expanded to two separate sections plus an advanced class. For the duration of the school year, each student will be paired up with one of our giant tortoise ambassadors where they will be conducting weekly behavioral observations and health checks!

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Turtle Smuggler Sentenced

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Turtle Smuggler Sentenced

In December of 2019 we shared the news of a turtle trafficking network that had been uncovered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Postal Service. The two year long investigation documented a plan to illegally export over 769 native North American turtles (of many protected species) to China for the international pet trade. The investigation led to the arrest of a Chinese national and halted this particular operation. Nearly three years after his arrest, the man who pleaded guilty to purchasing and planning to export these turtles was finally sentenced earlier this month…

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Hatching Season Success

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Hatching Season Success

The month of August was filled with anticipation as we awaited for the hatch date of several endangered turtles and tortoises! Some of our hatchlings included: Big-headed turtles (a first for the Conservancy), Ryukyu Black-breasted Leaf Turtles, Parrot-beaked Tortoises, and more...

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Turtle Tales

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Turtle Tales

Last month our education coordinator, Manci Rasmussen, and Thacher School intern, Katie Vyhnal, were invited to join our local library and elementary school for their weekly children's storytime event. That week’s topic happened to be turtles, so we took this opportunity to share our mission to protect turtles and tortoises and their natural habitats with the kids...

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News from Our Conservation Center

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News from Our Conservation Center

We are delighted to share that two Impressed tortoises have hatched at our conservation center! This vulnerable, and elusive, species is native to scattered areas of mainland Southeast Asia, where its occurrence is restricted to the higher altitude bamboo and scrub forest slope habitats of the hill and low mountain range areas...

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Ojai Valley Conservation

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Ojai Valley Conservation

Last week, the Turtle Conservancy’s education team, Kelly Herbinson and Manci Rasmussen, presented at our local City Hall to the youth members of the Green Valley Project about our native Southern Pacific Pond Turtle. The focus was to discuss our current conservation efforts for the species, why the turtles are facing a population decline, and how their organization can aid in their conservation...

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Pond Turtle Search Continues

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Pond Turtle Search Continues

Turtle Conservancy staff and interns spent a day in the field at Sespe Cienega, a site along the Santa Clara River corridor in Fillmore, California, planning for upcoming Southern Pacific Pond Turtle surveys at the site. The TC is partnering with the Santa Clara River Conservancy, who is working to restore the site back to its riparian and marshland glory…

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New Conservation Partnership

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New Conservation Partnership

We have developed a new partnership with the Santa Fe River Turtle Project (SFRTP) in northern Florida. The SFRTP is a collaborative effort by scientists, students, and citizens to learn about the turtles inhabiting the Santa Fe River and to promote conservation of the entire Santa Fe River ecosystem. Since 2004 the project has examined, measured, marked, and released more than 10,000 turtles. Over 250 students and citizens have participated in this project during the past 18 years...

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Giants in the Classroom

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Giants in the Classroom

It does not happen every day that elementary, middle and high school children share their classroom with Galapagos and Aldabra Tortoises. This summer, however, the time has come when these gentle giants finally made it to school, as Turtle Conservancy launched its academic virtual field trip program...

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