Going to the beach this summer? If you’re in southern Australia, keep your eyes peeled for the world’s largest turtle, the leatherback. If you do, you can report sightings to researchers at Deakin University…
A satellite-tracking study of green turtles in the Indian Ocean has rewritten the record books for long-distance marine animal migration, showing that they can travel some 4000 kilometres without stopping…
With more than half a million people participating in last Sunday’s Clean Up Australia Day, it’s perhaps not surprising that some odd objects came to light. Not all the rubbish was on land, and not all…
During the Mesozoic Era, between 252m and 66m years ago, the seas were ruled by a vast and intriguing array of reptiles. The most common ones were crocodiles (adapted to swimming in oceans), plesiosaurs…
Note: since publishing the Leatherback Turtle has been removed from the critically endangered list. It is now considered to be vulnerable. Leatherback turtles (Dermochelys coriacea) are the largest, oldest…
The Hawksbill Turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) is one of the seven species of marine turtles and one of six in the family Cheloniidae. It is easily distinguished from other turtle species by its beak-like…
The Western Swamp Tortoise (Pseudemydura umbrina) is Australia’s rarest reptile. Originally it was known only from a single specimen collected in 1839 from an unknown location in Western Australia. No…
A new map of potential sea turtle nesting spots, including remote locations cut off by conflict, will help researchers track how the reptiles respond to climate change, turtle experts said today. Sea turtles…
Turtles are great evolutionary survivors. With their iconic shells and ponderously slow pace of life, they have plodded through 220 million years of natural selective pressures. In the face of forces that…
Many species have dubious futures in the face of climate change. But sea turtles have a particularly pressing problem: their sex is determined by temperature. Australia has ecologically and culturally…