Doggy BFFs

World Turtle Day is May 23

Let's support our hard-shelled mud and corn-loving friends this week!

Click here for more information.

It's Hans Season!

That's right, folks. Even though Hans never leaves, he's BACK! My leiderhosen'd friend has a permanent post as my BFF.

Underwater Smooch

No tongue!

Working It, Bicycle Style

Speedo season is right around the corner. Gotta work it.

Rest for the Weary

Been a long, strange, exhausting winter. Must rest before gearing up for summer action. Like running wild on the porch, or letting the wind blow off a scute. I know the warmth is out there.

Adventure Aquarium - Camden

Go visit the Adventure Aquarium this summer!

1 Riverside Drive
Camden, NJ 08103
856.365.3300 

My Cousin: The Madagascar Spider Tortoise

The Madagascar Spider Tortoise is a small reptile, with an oblong shell that is highly curved and widens towards the rear. The shell is decorated with five to eight yellow lines radiating out from a yellow centre, against a dark brown or black background. The shell on the underside of the tortoise, known as the plastron, is yellow. This species are estimated to live for up to 70 years.

The spider tortoise is endemic  to  the arid regions of the coastal areas of south-western Madagascar. The spider tortoise is most active during the wet season, between November and April, when the vegetation is relatively lush, and the tortoise can feed on grasses, young leaves, the roots of succulents, and insects attracted to the flourishing plants.

Many spider tortoises bury themselves deep into the sand and aestivate for the duration of the colder and drier weather, understood to be an energy and moisture-saving tactic for when vegetation is sparse.



NOTE: 26 April 2010: The Madagascar spider tortoise, one of southern Madagascar’s endemic and iconic species was recently upgraded to ‘Critically Endangered’ status on the IUCN-World Conservation Union’s Red List for Threatened Species. This small and intricately patterned tortoise has faced risks to its long term survival as a result of habitat destruction and poaching for local consumption as food, in addition to being illegally exported to support the exotic pet trade.

I'm Coming for You

happy birthday, Reggie!

Turtle Islands Wildlife Sanctuary

The Turtle Islands is part of the Sulu Archipelago which is composed of approximately 400 islands of varying shapes and sizes. It is located at the southwestern tip of the Philippines.

 Part of the UNESCO and World Heritage Convention, the Turtle Islands Wildlife Sanctuary is regarded as the only major nesting ground with more than 1,000 nesters annually of the Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) in the whole region. There are only 10 remaining nesting sites worldwide. Around Great Bakkungan Island, the Malay Box Turtle which was never seen at other islands has been observed visiting its shores. Presence of sea snakes and terrestial snakes have also been recorded in the island.

Click here for more information

 

Kitty BFFs

Still Waiting

I know something is going on out there...

and I'm missing out!

Party Animal

This little guy knows how to rock a camp site, especially with the ladies:

Slowsky Fun Time

Dreaming of Turtle Island

Mama's looking for a little vacation and I'd like to recommend none other than Turtle Island, Fiji, the location for the movie Blue Lagoon.

Click to learn more about Turtle Island. Then plan your trip (and take mama with you)!

Butterfly Season!

I love them so much. And they love me.

It's Gangnam Style!

Ugly Dog, Handsome Turtle

Coffee Anyone?

It would be nice to have a fine cup of java waiting for me in the morning... but no...

Back in the Saddle

Spring must be around the corner. I suddenly found myself taking that long hike up the rock to the dock, looking for a view... and some warmth from the light.

What a Pisser!

From DiscoveryMagazine.com:

You Like Turtles? Urine for a Surprise

Learning from tricky turtles may help humans with kidney failure.

By Brendan Borrell|Thursday, March 07, 2013

 

Yuen K. Ip knew something funky was going on inside the mouths of Chinese soft-shelled turtles. When they were on dry land, they dunked their heads in puddles and gargled. “Why would they do that?” asks Ip, a physiologist at the National University of Singapore. It turns out they were simply peeing. From their mouths.

Mouth-peeing is more than just a neat trick—it’s essential for maintaining these turtles’ deviant lifestyles. Unlike other freshwater turtles, these guys venture into brackish water for days at a time. In this challenging environment, their bodies break down protein and produce toxic ammonia, packaging it as urea.

The load is so great that they cannot just drink water and flush it out because their kidneys would be overwhelmed by the salts. Instead, these turtles have molecular pumps in their mouths that help move the urea out.

Ip thinks his research could help humans with kidney failure, either by creating a more efficient dialysis machine or through gene therapy to enable humans to mimic the turtle and eliminate urea via the mouth. It may just work. “What we are doing is learning from nature,” he says.

Nabbed!

March 2013 - Two smugglers were nabbed in Thailand as they tried to smuggle some of the rarest tortoises in the world.

CLICK HERE for the full story

Like Henry's friend Jim says: SNUGGLE, not SMUGGLE!

Forget Moby Dick!

Row Row Row

What Time is It?

(pssst.... it's time for Mama's birthday!)

Attack of the Killer Tomato

She's at it Again

Mama's been going through an 'artsy' phase, been painting and sewing a lot. I even spotted a spotted whale and a tooth beary! I just sit back and watch it all go down.

Find mama's goodies on etsy

Madagascar Longnecks

Looks to me like these longnecks are practicing new dance moves.
Soul Line for terps.

Top of the Mornin'

The Winter Lair

Good Morning!

2013 Calendar

Still time to get your 2013 Sea Turtle Conservancy calendar online - the pictures are beautiful enough to keep! And you can track sea turtles from their website! Click the calendar below to find out how to order:

Turtle Conservancy Projects

Click on the link below my friend here to check out some of the ongoing conservancy projects around the world:

Worldwide Turtle Conservancy Projects

Wrecked, the book

Wrecked is a book penned by missionary Jeff Goins, who wrote "Once you’ve been wrecked, there’s no going back. And perhaps that’s not such a bad thing." Maybe.
I just like the cover:

Click here if you want more info

Why Can't I Be You?

mama, get sewing up that new harness for me!

Terrapin Salad

Chilled Turtle Soup

If she doesn't warm this tank up soon, I may become a snapper just for the heck of it.

Slowskys Behind the Scenes

My Cousin: The Blob

Sorry, buddy, I couldn't help myself. One look in the mirror and you'll see what I mean.

The Narrow-headed Softshell Turtle  This is one big turtle - up to 45 inches long and over 260 pounds! Like all softshell turtles, this one has a carapace (upper shell) covered with leathery skin, as opposed to the hard plates found on most turtle shells.

Found mainly in southern Asian countries like Pakistan, India and Malaysia, the narrow-headed softshell spends most of its time in the water, hanging out on the sandy bottoms of deep rivers. It buries itself in the sand and lies in wait for its prey. When a tasty-looking morsel happens by, the turtle shoots out its long neck with great speed and captures the unlucky victim. The turtle's favorite animal foods include fish, mollusks, crabs, shrimp; plants occasionally show up on the menu.

The narrow-headed softshell rarely leaves the water, except during nesting season. A female hauls herself onto a sandy beach and lays her eggs - 60 to 110 at a time!

Despite its relatively high reproductive rate, the narrow-headed softshell is in danger of extinction in the wild. The species is captured in huge numbers and sold as food or medicine in Asian markets.

Because of its habitat and habits (deep water, often submerged), much about the narrow-headed softshell remains a mystery.

My Cousin: The Central American River Turtle

The Central American River Turtle survived the age of dinosaurs but is now at risk of being eaten to death by humans! Its prized meat is hunted from remote wetlands and served during religious celebrations. The turtle, one of nearly 350 species of freshwater turtles and tortoises found around the world, is apparently so “floppy” that it has a hard time leaving the water, preferring to nest under the surface during floods, according to Conservation International.

Hop On!

Little guy needs a ride

 

Top 10 Weird Turtle Facts

10. That Shell isn't What it Seems

The Chelonian's shell, which is made up of about 50 different bones, actually is an evolutionary modification of the rib cage and part of the vertebral column.

The shell itself actually has two parts: an upper section, the carapace, and a lower portion called the pastron, which are joined by a bony bridge. Some turtles have a moveable joint, usually in the plastron, that acts as a hinge and enables the creature to pull the two shell sections together tightly while it retracts its body inside. Shells have nerves embedded in them and a blood supply as well, so if a turtle shell is injured, it may bleed and feel pain.

9. Tortoises Orbited the Moon Before Astronauts In September 1968, the Soviet Union launched the space probe Zond 5 on a mission to orbit the moon and test conditions as a prelude to a possible lunar mission by cosmonauts. Along with a life-size human mannequin equipped with radiation detectors, the spacecraft carried a number of living passengers, including a pair of Russian tortoises. After a week in space, Zond 5 returned to Earth and successfully splashed down in the Indian Ocean.

8. Alligator Snapping Turtles Lure Prey With Their Tongues One of the most fearsome Chelonians around is the alligator snapping turtle, Macroclemys temminckii, which is the biggest freshwater turtle in North America. It can grow to 2.5 feet long, can weigh as much as 200 pounds, and has powerful jaws, a sharply-hooked beak, nasty bearlike claws and a muscular tail. The alligator snapping turtle does eat some aquatic plants, but it's mostly a carnivore that dines on a variety of smaller creatures -- fish, frogs, snakes, worms, clams, crayfish and even other turtles.

The alligator snapping turtle catches prey by way of a fiendishly clever evolutionary adaptation: an appendage to its tongue that, when wriggled, looks like a worm. Fooled fish will swim right into range of the hungry predator's jaws.

7. They Make Sounds, Even Though They Lack Vocal CordsChelonians can make sounds by swallowing or by forcing air out of their lungs, and some species emit unique noises. The red-footed tortoise, a South American species, makes a series of clucks that sound like a chicken. Male Travancore tortoises in Southeast Asia emit a high-pitched whine that sounds like an electric motor when mating. The giant musk turtle found in Central America, is known for yelping like a dog when it is startled or being attacked.

But the weirdest sound is made by nesting female leatherback sea turtles (Dermochelys coriacea), who make a distinctly unladylike noise that resembles a human belch.

6. Males Select Potential Mates By Sniffing Tails
Male chelonians' method of sniffing under other female chelonians' tails is relatively sensible, not to mention functional. Since both males and females' sexual organs are hidden inside their cloaca, a cavity used for both reproduction and eliminating waste, humans have trouble telling by sight the sex of a turtle.

Turtles and tortoises, however, possess an extremely keen sense of smell. Males apparently can detect the scent of pheromones, a type of identifying chemical, that is secreted inside a female's cloaca.


5. They Don't Have Ears, But Can Perceive Low-Pitched Sounds
It's true that chelonians can't hear anywhere near as well as humans because they lack an ear opening, but they can detect certain types of sounds. Scientists have found that their middle ears have a very thick eardrum-like membrane, which limits the frequency range they can perceive. But that adaptation is extremely efficient for bone-conduction hearing at low frequencies, according to Behavior of Exotic Pets.

Our hard-shelled friends also can't differentiate loudness as well as we can. The spotted turtle, Clemmys guttata, for example, has a peak sensitivity of just 4 dB, compared to 120 dB in humans. Fortunately, their sense of hearing is good enough to detect the presence of predators.

4. Turtles Are Nearly As Old As The Dinosaurs

Amazingly, some turtles that existed in the age of the dinosaurs are still around. Pelomedusidae, a family of freshwater turtles native to eastern and southern Africa, first appeared about 120 million years ago. The first tortoises emerged on land at the start of the Tertiary Period 65 million years ago, shortly after the dinosaurs died out in a mass extinction. In the ocean, the oldest surviving species of sea turtles, the Cheloniidae, date back 55 million years, according to the book Turtles of the World.

3. Turtles Breathe Without A DiaphragmMost air-breathing vertebrates draw air in and out of their lungs using a diaphragm, a muscle that contracts and relaxes with each breath to expand the ribs. But turtles don't have a diaphragm, since the rigidity of their shells would prevent their ribs, which are connected to them, from expanding. Instead, turtles must move their limbs or neck, and utilize other muscles connected to the pleural cavity (the area around the lungs), to help them breathe.

2. They Have Favorite Colors
Our shell-wearing reptilians are visually-oriented creatures and rely on sight to identify other members of the same species, food, and potential danger, such as predators. Sea turtles, for example, are so dependent on sight that when researchers blindfolded some of them,
the animals were unable to find their way back into the water.

Research also shows that turtles not only can perceive colors, but that certain colors -- red, orange and yellow -- seem to be the most appetizing to them. When they see an object in one of those shades, they display "investigative behavior," which suggests that they're checking it out to see if they want to eat it.

1. There's A Turtle That Seems Part Skunk
The African helmeted turtle, Pelomedusa subrufa, is the most widespread turtle species in Africa, found just about everywhere south of the Sahara desert. It's a hunter-scavenger that hunts in packs and seems happy to eat most anything, from parasites lodged in the skin of rhinoceroses to young birds and small mammals. The helmeted turtle's reputation is also odorous as well. It smells really, really awful. That aroma comes from four glands, one under each leg, which release a foul-smelling liquid seems to repulse horses as well as humans.