Tortoises are reptiles of the family Testudinidae of the order Testudines. Like other turtles, tortoises have a shell to protect from predation and other threats. The shell in tortoises is generally hard, and like other members of the suborder Cryptodira, they retract their necks and heads directly backward into the shell to protect them.
Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife is a governmental organisation responsible for maintaining wildlife conservation areas and biodiversity in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. Their headquarters is in Queen Elizabeth Park situated on the northern slopes of Pietermaritzburg, the KwaZulu-Natal provincial capital. Prior to 1994, it was known as the Natal Parks Board.
The Bolson tortoise, also called the Mexican giant tortoise or yellow-margined tortoise, is a species of tortoise from North America. Of the six North American tortoise species, it is the largest, having a carapace length of about 46 cm (18 in). It lives in a region of the Chihuahuan Desert known as the Bolsón de Mapimí, which is located in north-central Mexico.
The Texas tortoise is a species of tortoise in the family Testudinidae. The species G. berlandieri is one of six species of tortoises that are native to North America.
The desert tortoise is a species of tortoise in the family Testudinidae. The species is native to the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, and to the Sinaloan thornscrub of northwestern Mexico. G. agassizii is distributed in western Arizona, southeastern California, southern Nevada, and southwestern Utah. The specific name agassizii is in honor of Swiss-American zoologist Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz. The desert tortoise is the official state reptile in California and Nevada.
Gopherus is a genus of fossorial tortoises commonly referred to as gopher tortoises. The gopher tortoise is grouped with land tortoises that originated 60 million years ago, in North America. A genetic study has shown that their closest relatives are in the Asian genus Manouria. The gopher tortoises live in the southern United States from California's Mojave Desert across to Florida, and in parts of northern Mexico. Gopher tortoises are so named because of some species' habit of digging large, deep burrows. Most notably, Gopherus polyphemus digs burrows which can be up to 40 feet (12 m) in length and 10 feet (3.0 m) in depth. These burrows are used by a variety of other species, including mammals, other reptiles, amphibians, and birds. Gopher tortoises are 20–50 cm (7.9–19.7 in) in length, depending on the species. All six species are found in xeric habitats. Numerous extinct species are known, the oldest dating to the Priabonian stage of the Late Eocene of the United States.
The gopher tortoise is a species of tortoise in the family Testudinidae. The species is native to the southeastern United States. The gopher tortoise is seen as a keystone species because it digs burrows that provide shelter for at least 360 other animal species. G. polyphemus is threatened by predation and habitat destruction. Habitat degradation is the primary reason that the gopher tortoise is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, but they are considered threatened in some states while they are endangered in others.
The radiated tortoise is a tortoise species in the family Testudinidae. Although this species is native to and most abundant in southern Madagascar, it can also be found in the rest of this island, and has been introduced to the islands of Réunion and Mauritius. It is a very long-lived species, with recorded lifespans of up to 188 years. These tortoises are classified as critically endangered by the IUCN, mainly because of the destruction of their habitat and because of poaching.
Chelonian Conservation and Biology: International Journal of Turtle and Tortoise Research is a peer-reviewed scientific journal covering research on freshwater turtles, marine turtles, and tortoises. It was established in 1993 by the Chelonian Research Foundation as the new scientific journal of the IUCN Species Survival Commission's Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group and the International Bulletin of Chelonian Research. The journal was first published with support from Conservation International, the Chelonian Institute, the Wildlife Conservation Society, the Florida Audubon Society, and the Species Survival Commission of the World Conservation Union.
The painted terrapin, painted batagur, or saw-jawed turtle is a species of turtles in the family Geoemydidae. It was formerly in its own genus, Callagur, but has been reclassified to the genus, Batagur.
The variable mud turtle, also known as Rhodesian mud turtle, Mashona hinged terrapin or variable hinged terrapin, is a species of turtle in the family Pelomedusidae. It is widely distributed in Central, East, and Southern Africa. The species was officially described by John Hewitt in 1927 and had to be broken into subspecies due to color variations on the heads of the turtles acrost the regions.
Hoge's sideneck turtle(Ranacephala hogei) is a species of turtle in the family Chelidae. It is the only member of the genus Ranacephala. The species is endemic to the eastern Atlantic Forest of Brazil, primarily in the Carangola River of Minas Gerais and Paraíba do Sul River, Rio de Janeiro. The most documented population resides in the midsection of the Carangola River with an estimated population of less than 2000.
The Tamaulipan mezquital is a deserts and xeric shrublands ecoregion in the Southern United States and northeastern Mexico. It covers an area of 141,500 km2 (54,600 sq mi), encompassing a portion of the Gulf Coastal Plain in southern Texas, northern Tamaulipas, northeastern Coahuila, and part of Nuevo León.
The Turtle Conservancy (TC) is a conservation organization that aims to protect endangered turtles, tortoises, and their habitats worldwide.
John L. Behler was an American naturalist, herpetologist, author, and activist known for his work in conserving endangered species of turtles, snakes, and other reptiles. He served as curator of herpetology at the Bronx Zoo, part of the Wildlife Conservation Society from 1976 to 2006. He co-chaired the IUCN Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group, and was a founding member of the Turtle Survival Alliance, which co-present the Behler Turtle Conservation Award with the Turtle Conservancy and Turtle Conservation Fund. The Behler Turtle Conservation Award is a major annual award to honor leadership in the field of freshwater turtle and tortoise conservation. The Turtle Conservancy named its captive breeding center, the Behler Chelonian Center, in his honor.
Pearl River Wildlife Management Area, also known as Pearl River WMA, is a 35,619 acres (14,414 ha) tract of protected area near Slidell in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, in the United States. The WMA is managed by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF)
Extinct or Alive is an American wildlife documentary television programme produced for Animal Planet by Hot Snakes Media of New York City, the United States. It is hosted by conservationist and television personality Forrest Galante, who travels to different locations around the globe to learn about possibly extinct animals and whether or not there is a chance that they may still be extant. The series has been involved in the possible rediscovery of eleven animals, namely the Zanzibar leopard, the Pondicherry shark, the Fernandina Island Galápagos tortoise, the Miller's grizzled langur, the Cape lion, the Malagasy hippopotamus, the Yangtze giant softshell turtle, Rio Apaporis caiman, Whitetip weasel shark, Ornate sleeper-ray and the Flapnose houndshark.
The Goode's thornscrub tortoise, also known as the Sinaloan thornscrub tortoise, Sinaloan desert tortoise or Goode's desert tortoise, is a species of tortoise that is native to the Sinaloan desert region. First described in 2016, G. evgoodei inhabits Tropical Deciduous Forest and Sinaloan Desertscrub biomes in Mexico. Its range may overlap in the north with G. morafkai, the Morafka's or Sonoran desert tortoise.
Kalyar Platt is a Burmese herpetologist and turtle conservationist. She is the director of the Myanmar Program of the Turtle Survival Alliance and oversees conservation, breeding and reintroduction projects for some of Southeast Asia's rarest turtle species. She formerly worked for Wildlife Conservation Society and earned her PhD from Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University in 2007.
