Breakfast at Blue Hill Hotel means sharing the morning with #Aldabra giant #tortoises. https://scubahanknyc.com/2025/06/24/breakfast-with-the-giants-mornings-at-blue-hill-hotel-seychelles/
I’d like to introduce the newest member of our family. Her name is Bean and she’s a Greek Ibera tortoise. She’s only 11 months old and will hopefully spend many years (decades even!) with us.
Love her cute little legs which stretch out when she’s having a good meal. 
Too tired now to write about the European pond turtles (Emys orbicularis) that we now see every day. One nest secured. Ask me tomorrow.
Happy #WorldTurtleDay! 
Yay! 
Did you know that all tortoises are in fact turtles — they belong to the order Testudines or Chelonia (reptiles having bodies encased in a bony shell) — but not all #turtles are #tortoises.
One way to tell them apart is by where it lives. A #turtle lives mostly in #water, while a #tortoise is a #land animal.
Some people use the terms interchangeably but technically that's not always correct.
Saturday 18 May 1963
TV stars come and go. There are exceptions, of course, like Eamonn Andrews who seems to go on forever, David Jacobs who popped up on both channels recently, and Peter Dimmock who is now a BBC executive. For most though fame is fleeting. The life of a TV star may be gay and prosperous, but it is also very short.
Went to the local water supply reservoir a couple of days ago, and did a bit of #Photography. We've had a lot of rain lately; the water level was up by a couple of feet, and the spillway was overflowing. There's one particular location which for some combination of factors, is always teeming with #Tortoises. They sit just under the surface, and watch you with just the tips of their noses poking out of the water. Lots of little triangles, like tiny shark fins.
… Sanctuary staff, local volunteers and even police officers joined together in a rescue operation, wading through the floodwaters with large baskets to collect the bewildered tortoises. Some rescuers converted damaged building structures into makeshift rafts for the tortoises to ride on as they moved around to find others. They believe they managed to save more than 10,000 #tortoises
Photograph: AP
An endangered tortoise clings to a floating branch in a flood in southern Madagascar. During Cyclone Dikeledi, thousands of critically endangered tortoises were swept away from the Lavavolo Tortoise Center, where they had been confiscated from illegal wildlife traffickers, and were left swimming for their lives …
Photograph: AP
Environmental defenders in Madagascar have faced a spate of threats and attacks in recent years, overshadowing their work to protect biodiversity and human rights.
Against this backdrop, tortoise conservationist Hery Razafimamonjiraibe spoke with Mongabay about how his team manages threats working in often isolated conditions in the south of the country.
By Carolyn Cowan
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/you-have-to-be-passionate-interview-with-turtle-survival-alliances-hery-razafimamonjiraibe/
"Tortoises on the way down are bouncing back thanks to a desert conservation effort"
Galapagos giant tortoises are restoring their own ecosystem
A decades-long project to reintroduce Galapagos giant tortoises is changing the face of the island of Española.
https://www.popsci.com/environment/galapagos-giant-tortoises-ecosystem-conservation/
Tortoise shell close up. Sorting out some additional zoo pics from my trip to see Moo Deng. #tortoises #animals #photography
"Our dream is to expand the Aldabra giants’ habitats beyond the Anjajavy Reserve, so that this #tortoise can help regenerate forest and woodland across as much of #Madagascar as possible."
#gianttortoise #rewilding #tortoises #herbivores #conservation #ecology
https://www.rewildingmag.com/giant-tortoises-return-to-madagascar/
These races would take a LOOOONG time, much to the rabbit jockeys' frustration. #grickledoodle #rabbits #tortoises #race #cartoon #art #drawing #funny
New on the blog today – "The Enfield Wildlife Rescue Centre"
https://heliomass.com/posts/2421-enfield-wildlife-rescue-centre/
I wonder how many people know about this haven for sick and injured animals on the very tip of North London?
Hundreds of #GiantTortoises return to #Galápagos Islands decades after near-#extinction of species
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-07-22/hundreds-of-giant-tortoises-return-to-gal%C3%A1pagos-islands/104126354
"Rangers repatriated about 560 #animals over the course of 2023. The animals were part of a program in which wild eggs are collected, hatched and the young #tortoises are raised in safety before being returned to their home islands as adolescents... Giant tortoises eat more than 225 kilograms of vegetation each year, and are architects of a healthy ecosystem."
What 70 Celebrity Tortoises Can Teach Us About Conservation Stories
https://therevelator.org/celebrity-tortoises/
"Last November #conservationists carefully carried 70 young, critically #endangered #Mojave #DesertTortoises to the #reptiles’ natural habitat on Edwards Air Force Base... six months later, this past April, news of their fate came out: The #tortoises had emerged from their burrows healthier and stronger than ever, a notable milestone in the ongoing #tortoise #conservation story."
Indian star #tortoises rescued during a raid on a house in Ampang in Malaysia’s Selangor state. Authorities have arrested six members of an international crime ring known as the Ninja Turtle Gang and seized about 200 smuggled tortoises and turtles.
Photograph: #Malaysia Department of Wildfife and National Parks/AFP/Getty Images
Does anyone have a spare TurtleSense sensor? Or can build an equivalent within a couple of weeks? I can delay the construction of my house, but I don't want to miss the right time and excavate dead baby turtles (it happened once).
Background: https://qoto.org/@szescstopni/112583246250456591
Please boost
