Turtles and tortoises News

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Giant tortoises return to Galápagos island 180 years after relatives went extinct

Bobby Bascomb 20 Feb 2026

Texas sea turtles have lost a conservation hero (commentary)

Todd Steiner 16 Feb 2026
A Malayan softshell turtle (Dogania subplana).

Study refutes claim that Indonesia’s legal turtle trade supports livelihoods

Spoorthy Raman 16 Feb 2026
Dave Collins holds a Yellow-bellied Slider (Trachemys scripta), a local turtle whose populations are doing just fine in the Eastern US. Photo by Liz Kimbrough for Mongabay.

A last refuge for turtles on the brink

Rhett Ayers Butler 5 Feb 2026
Jean Beasley with the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center with a juvenile Kemp's Ridley sea turtle on Sept. 17, 2013 in Surf City, N.C. Photo courtesy of KEN BLEVINS/STARNEWS

Jean Beasley, who turned her young daughter’s dying wish into a mission to save sea turtles, has died

Rhett Ayers Butler 3 Dec 2025
Screenshot of Gramma. Courtesy of the San Diego Zoo.

The long life of a Galápagos tortoise

Rhett Ayers Butler 29 Nov 2025
A male Vallarta mud turtle, one of the 40 seized as part of the operation, cared for at the Guadalajara Zoo.

Massive turtle bust in Mexico reveals ‘Wild West’ of wildlife trafficking

Spoorthy Raman 14 Nov 2025
Giant South American river turtles nesting on a sandbank in the Amazon’s Guaporé River. Image courtesy of Omar Torrico/Wildlife Conservation Society.

Largest turtle nest in the world revealed in drone study

Shanna Hanbury 11 Sep 2025
Giant Galápagos tortoises. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.

The slow demise of turtles and tortoises

Rhett Ayers Butler 27 Aug 2025

Tortoise hatchlings born of century-old parents come out of their shells at Philadelphia Zoo

Associated Press 20 Aug 2025

New report warns 54% of turtles and tortoises are at risk of extinction

Liz Kimbrough 15 Aug 2025
Birds captured by traders at a temple in Nepal. Image by Abhaya Raj Joshi/ Mongabay

Illegal pet trade in Nepal now shifting online, research suggests

Abhaya Raj Joshi 31 Jul 2025
Pelicans have rebounded on the restored Queen Bess Island off the coast of Louisiana. Photo courtesy of Alisha Renfro

Pelicans recover, but dolphins and other species struggle 15 years after BP oil spill

Mongabay.com 18 Jun 2025
An Aldabra giant tortoise (Aldabrachelys gigantea). These long-lived tortoises are found on both Assomption island and the neighboring island of Aldabra, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Image courtesy of Celina Chien/ Overstories.

Green groups oppose Qatari luxury resort near pristine world heritage site

Malavika Vyawahare 3 Jun 2025
Banner image of Mommy, the Western Santa Cruz Galápagos tortoise, courtesy of Philadelphia Zoo.

97-year-old Galápagos tortoise becomes a first-time mom

Kristine Sabillo 11 Apr 2025
An archival image of Satish Bhaskar holding a hawksbill turtle. Image courtesy of Satish Bhaskar.

The Turtle Walker: Satish Bhaskar, sea turtle conservationist

Rhett Ayers Butler 28 Mar 2025
Rescue operation at the Lavavolo Tortoise Center.

Devastating flood forces relocation of 10,000 tortoises at Madagascar sanctuary

Rivonala Razafison 26 Mar 2025
Banner image of a loggerhead sea turtle released in 2021, courtesy of Vanessa Kahn/New England Aquarium.

Surgically implanted tags offer rare insight into rehabilitated sea turtles

Kristine Sabillo 25 Mar 2025

Wave of arrests as Madagascar shuts down tortoise trafficking network

Rivonala Razafison 17 Feb 2025

Over 1,100 dead olive ridley turtles wash ashore in southern India

Shreya Dasgupta 31 Jan 2025

Vietnam grapples with ‘alarming popularity’ of online illegal wildlife trade

Carolyn Cowan 27 Jan 2025

Floods devastate tortoise sanctuary in southern Madagascar

Shanna Hanbury 23 Jan 2025
Banner image of one of the released elongated tortoises, courtesy of CCA.

Bangladesh sees first ever rewilding of captive-bred elongated tortoises

Kristine Sabillo 17 Jan 2025
radiated tortoise

How tortoise conservationist Hery Razafimamonjiraibe manages risks to antipoaching teams

Carolyn Cowan 10 Jan 2025

Tortoise protection culture prompts efforts to curb trafficking in Madagascar

Carolyn Cowan 30 Dec 2024
An adult radiated tortoise

Massive tortoise rewilding in Madagascar’s spiny forest strives to save fraught species

Carolyn Cowan 26 Dec 2024
Front view of a confiscated forest hingeback tortoise in Côte d’Ivoire with damage to the nuchal area. Image by Pearson McGovern.

Meet the little-known African tortoise with a hatchback for a shell

Jeremy Hance 26 Aug 2024
Common brown lemur

Madagascar lemurs, tortoises seized in Thai bust reveal reach of wildlife trafficking

Carolyn Cowan 28 Jun 2024

Spotted softshell turtle release boosts reptile conservation in Vietnam

Carolyn Cowan 4 Apr 2024
Shoebill

Study identifies species with a long history but short future amid threats

Carolyn Cowan 28 Mar 2024
Rock gecko

For Vietnam’s rare reptiles, lack of captive populations may spell doom

Carolyn Cowan 21 Sep 2023
A Mojave Desert tortoise with an iButton attached to it.

How hot are the desert tortoises getting? iButtons help find the answer

Abhishyant Kidangoor 20 Sep 2023

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