A survey of sea turtle rehabilitation facilities in the United States revealed that 34 facilities released 11,417 sea turtles through 2016. The number of turtles released per time period increased over time, with 80% of releases occurring between 2007 and 2016, 15% between 1997 and 2006, and 5% prior to 1997. Twenty facilities reported a total of 314 first re-encounters and 6 second re-encounters of turtles that had been previously released, including 12 turtles encountered while successfully nesting. Results revealed substantial efforts to rehabilitate sea turtles in the United States, with some rehabilitated turtles surviving for extended periods after release, but with the fate of most remaining unknown. Greater efforts to determine the long-term outcome for a larger proportion of rehabilitation cases are warranted.

Adult Podocnemis unifilis were monitored using VHF radio tracking from September 2013 to September 2014 in the Rio Trombetas Biological Reserve, Pará, Brazil. Our aim was to analyze the use of space by this species near the nesting beach base by describing size and overlap of estimated home ranges. Transmitters were attached to 10 males and 10 females. The mean home range size calculated through the fixed-kernel (FK) method with 95% of the fixes was 79.28 ± 77.08 ha (0.56–215.07 ha; n = 13). The mean of overlapping areas was 14% with FK95% (0.02%–81%; n = 13) and 5% with FK50% (0.1%–23%; n = 9). There was a significant difference in the mean overlapping areas between females and males. The analysis of the overlap of activity centers estimated by FK50% is extremely important for the establishment of conservation strategies in the management plan for this species in the reserve. We were able to identify 2 critical areas for the maintenance of this population where there was a frequent overlap of activity centers: the first, identified during the dry season, was composed of small overlaps among 7 turtles and was near the nesting areas on the clay banks within the Lago Jacaré; the second, identified during the rainy season, was composed of a concentration of overlap areas of larger size among 6 turtles and was an open area in the flooded forest. It is important not only to protect the nesting areas during the dry season but also to protect flooded forest areas with the major intensity of use along with the canals that link the flooded forests to the lakes in the rainy season. For conservation purposes, it is necessary to continue the protection of the nesting beaches throughout the savannas inside the lake where the species nests in the dry season. The flooded forest areas that are zones of intense use during the rainy season, and the canals where the turtles can move between lakes must be protected throughout the year.

To better understand the habitat preferences of the African spurred tortoise (Centrochelys sulcata), we tested possible associations between their distribution and land use, vegetation cover, the presence of roads, human settlements, and rainfall patterns, all of which affect the distributions of other tortoise species. African spurred tortoise distribution (based on 36 presence points compared with 250 random points) was strongly associated with 3 variables we analyzed: 1) Corine Land Cover (CLC) categories (especially sites with deciduous shrubs and high herbaceous cover relative to random bare areas), 2) distance from human settlements, and 3) distance from the nearest road.

The present study characterizes a population of Hydromedusa tectifera in a human-disturbed stream in Buenos Aires province, Argentina. We analyzed the variation of abundance, sex ratio, body condition index, and size class distribution across 3 sections of the Rodriguez stream with different degrees of urbanization regarding house density (null, low, and high) along the stream margins. Fieldwork was carried out from March 2017 to January 2018. Turtles were caught manually, and the following variables were recorded: site, transect and margin, sex, straight carapace length, and weight. We found 109 H. tectifera individuals (56 males, 46 females, and 7 hatchlings) with a balanced sex ratio and body condition index that did not vary among sites. Most turtles were caught at the site with greatest urbanization degree. However, our results showed no significant differences in the number of turtles caught among stream sites. Regarding size class distributions, the population consists largely of medium-sized to large adult turtles (150–250 mm). The present study demonstrates that the moderate urbanization degree occurring along the Rodriguez stream seems not to have negative impact on the studied population of H. tectifera. Some of the topics highlighted here constitute a first step to understanding how urbanization impacts this species. In any case, we suggest that a periodic monitoring program of the studied population is necessary in order to monitor the studied parameters and include new ones, such as habitat requirements, reproduction sites, and food quality, among others, that would probably be useful for population management to achieve better integration between the city and the turtles living there.

This study investigated the vertebral carapace structure of some Australian chelids to compare the skeletal anatomy of taxa that do not routinely have neurals with those that do. It also provides a comprehensive review of the presence and condition of neurals across all known extinct and extant chelids and considers the evolution of variable possession of neurals in the Chelidae in relation to 2 phylogenetic hypotheses for the family. I found that neurals are completely absent from some taxa and that subsurface neurals are not ubiquitous in chelids that lack neurals on the carapace surface, as previously thought. The review indicates that reduction from the plesiomorphic series of 8 neurals has occurred widely but variably across the chelid radiation and it appears that reduction of the series is an ongoing evolutionary process in the family. Reduction and complete loss of a neural series appears to have occurred on a similar number of occasions when evaluated by either of 2 basic phylogenetic reconstructions and the condition of neurals is thus of limited utility in considerations of higher chelid turtle taxonomy.

The Nubian flapshell turtle, Cyclanorbis elegans, is one of the rarest turtle species in the world and has even been considered as possibly extinct because no free-ranging individuals have been recorded in recent years. Here, we report on 2 large adults (> 60 cm total carapace length) of this species captured along the White Nile River course between the towns of Juba and Mongalla in South Sudan; these specimens were found in very large stretches of the riverbed, with the presence of seasonal and permanent wetlands (ponds and swamps) in the surroundings and with abundant bank vegetation. These turtles are hunted and eaten by local communities for subsistence and traditional medicine and are under serious threat due to overfishing and habitat loss.

The Asian giant softshell turtle, Pelochelys cantorii (Trionychidae), is endangered and was designated as a First Grade Protected Animal in China in 1989 and listed as Endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List in 2000; the species has suffered a gradual reduction in its range, its total population has decreased, and the need to protect this species has been ignored. We investigated 13 nature reserves with P. cantorii as the main object of protection and 5 captive-breeding centers; we also present the results from a questionnaire sent to one nature reserve. We summarize the distribution and habitat characteristics, evaluate the species' conservation status in each nature reserve, analyze the causes of extinction, and put forward our proposal for the protection of P. cantorii.

The understanding of developmental and reproductive migrations of sea turtles is essential for effective protection and conservation efforts. Flipper tags remain a valuable method for detecting movements and migrations because they are cost-effective and conspicuous, allowing the detection of a tagged animal by any person worldwide. Here we report 13 flipper-tag recoveries for Brazilian hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata) turtles that augment the body ofinformation on the migratory nature of this species and provide new growth-rate data.

Podocnemis expansa is the only freshwater turtle species that presents a social nesting behavior in South America, where thousands of females congregate on nesting beaches. We recorded the death of 15 females that were found fully or partially buried by other females at a gregarious nesting site from 2013 to 2017 on 2 beaches of the Tabuleiro of Monte Cristo, Pará, Brazil; another 2 buried females were rescued while still alive. This is the first study to quantify and record biometrical information of females' deaths not caused by predation or harvesting in a nesting area.

Hawksbill turtles from nesting areas in the south of the Arabian/Persian Gulf have been shown to migrate to numerous individual foraging sites across the region and undertake “summer migration loops” (SMLs) to avoid the most extreme sea temperatures. We tracked hawksbills nesting in Kuwait (n = 4) that migrated to hitherto undescribed foraging sites but showed no evidence of SMLs despite experiencing water temperatures greater than 33°C. Increasing the sample size for Kuwait turtles, tracking males, and publishing results from other important hawksbill nesting areas in Saudi Arabia are recommended to get a fuller indication of potential behavioral plasticity in the region.

During late June and July in 2015, we tracked the postnesting migrations of 5 loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) and 5 green turtles (Chelonia mydas) from a beach on Amami-Oshima Island (Amami) in the Ryukyu Archipelago, Japan, to identify the potential adult foraging grounds of these 2 species of marine turtle. All 5 loggerheads utilized the East China Sea, but 4 took direct paths there while 1 turtle first traveled to and stayed within the Sea of Japan until the water temperature in the area dropped to around 13°C before moving into the East China Sea. In contrast, 3 of the 5 green turtles moved to the coasts of Japan's main islands, 1 green turtle moved to the southwest of the Amami, and 1 green turtle stayed around the Amami throughout the tracking period.

Mohave Desert Tortoises (Gopherus agassizii) actively consume calcium-rich soil, bones, and stones, but this “mining” behavior is not well described for Sonoran Desert Tortoises (Gopherus morafkai). Over 8 yrs of study, we observed female G. morafkai consuming small white fragments of calcium-rich and phosphorus-poor caliche, but only during late May and June in an upland Sonoran Desert site in central Arizona. The temporal restriction of caliche consumption coincides with clutch development and egg deposition.

In a previous study it was shown that loggerhead (Caretta caretta) eggs exposed during embryonic development to a distorted magnetic field produced hatchlings incapable of using magnetic information for orientation or navigation. My study was done to determine if hatchlings could recover from those effects when magnetic distortions were confined to shorter time periods (the first, second, or last third of embryonic development). Under those conditions, I found that orientation still failed and conclude that even a relatively short exposure to field distortions might potentially incapacitate hatchlings that use magnetic cues during offshore migration.

We described aspects of spatial distribution, composition, and seasonality of sea turtle species stranded in the Rio Grande do Norte and Ceará States Basin (“Potiguar Basin”), northeastern Brazil, during a 7-yr period (between 2010 and 2016) and evaluated aspects related to anthropogenic impact. Our results revealed the occurrence of the 5 sea turtle species found in Brazil, and Chelonia mydas corresponded to the majority of the reported strandings.

Swimming behavior and speed of green turtle (Chelonia mydas) and hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) hatchlings swimming offshore were compared between individuals that were free swimming and the same individuals towing a float. Towing a float did not influence swimming behavior in either species, but decreased swimming speed by 20% in green turtles and 50% in hawksbill turtles.

In August and September 2017, a total of 95 green turtle (Chelonia mydas) nests were geolocated on 5 islands of the Qilianyu cluster, Xuande Islands, South China Sea; North Island had the highest number of nests (n = 58) and nest density (18.5 nests/ km). The number of eggs in each nest ranged from 58 to 131 (89 ± 20 [mean ± SD], n = 15), and the nest productivity was 14.8%–96.8% (70.7% ± 26.3%, n = 15). These data represent the first report for green turtle nesting in the Xuande Islands, and based on the number of nests recorded, the Qilianyu hosts the largest currently known green turtle nesting population in China.