• A varied selection of recent articles, stories and sites on the Web that is compiled by Michael J. Connor, Ph.D.
  • The links are listed as published in the relevant issue of the Tortuga Gazette.
  • Please note that all links were functioning when posted. My apologies if any are no longer available. Disabled links are present for informational purposes.

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Tortuga Gazette 45(1) | January/February 2009

New Home of the Nature Protection Trust of Seychelles
The site features pictures and articles on many of the rediscovered, long believed extinct Seychelles giant tortoises and the rare Seychelles side-necked turtles.

Gilbert White's Pet Tortoise
Interesting, scholarly discussion of the tortoises of the genus Testudo.

Tale of the Tortoises: Knoxville Zoo Helps Endangered Species Thrive
The Knoxville Zoo is home to 27 tortoise/turtle species and 225-230 individual turtles and tortoises.

Skeleton Of 12,000-Year-Old Shaman Discovered Buried With 50 Tortoises
One of many stories covering the archeological discovery of an early Middle Eastern shaman whose burial offers a fascinating twist on the value stone-age man placed on chelonians.

Scratching a Niche - the Tortoise Fodder Business!
An entrepreneurial approach to serving owners of pet tortoises.

Galápagos Bachelor Turtle Struggles to be a Dad
More news coverage of the sage of Lonesome George’s fathering attempts.

Hopes fade for Lonesome George's chances of fatherhood
Looks like those eggs laid by Lonesome George’s female companions are all duds. Well, better luck next year!

Tortuga Gazette 45(2) | March/April 2009

The Complete Works of Charles Darwin
2009 marks the 150th Anniversary of the publication of Darwin’s "On the Origin of Species". You can read it here for free along with all the other important works he penned.

Eating the Wild
New York Times Opinion Piece on human culinary habits.

The Tortoise and the Sun
Salon.com article on the desert tortoise and solar energy developments billed as "a showdown among environmentalists out West, where proposed solar-energy plants threaten the desert ecosystem."

President Bush as Shiva?
In this Podcast titled "Bush the Destroyer, Bush the Creator" Gordy Slack compares the outgoing President to the destroyer-creator god "Shiva" – for eviscerating the Endangered Species Act while also creating the largest ocean preserve in history as he leaves office. The ocean preserve is home to many endangered sea turtles.

Reduce Your "Plastic Footprint"
Wallace J. Nichols Offers Tips on Reducing Our "Plastic Footprint."

Encyclopedia of Life
 The Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) is an ambitious project to organize and make available virtually all information about life present on Earth.

Over the Sea to Skye…
Scotland may be too cold for turtles these days but the Isle of Skye has provided paleontologists with evidence of the earliest aquatic turtles in the form of four complete and two incomplete fossils of a turtle named Eileanchelys waldmani.

How the turtle's shell evolved
A newly discovered fossil from China sheds light on how the turtle's shell evolved. The fossil aquatic turtle, Odontochelys semitestacea, only had a shell covering its plastron.

Tortuga Gazette 45(3) | May/June 2009

African Turtle Hitches Ride On Pope's Plane
Turtle accompanies Benedict XVI from Cameroon to Angola.

New York Reptile Poaching Ring Bust
17 people charged in reptile (including snapping turtles) poaching probe.

The Galápagos Islands From Space
The Galápagos Islands were NASA MODIS Image of the Day on March 7, 2009.

Keeping Tabs on Wildlife Park’s Wildlife
Not strictly tortoise related although Aldrabra Tortoises get a mention, this fun article talks about the annual inventory of critters at England’s Cotswold Wildlife Park.

David Snow
Homage to David Snow, one of the founders of the Charles Darwin Research Center.

Tour around Darwin's Galápagos
BBC video and other materials from the Galápagos including video of Lonesome George.

Science Restored
Interesting editorial in the journal Nature on President Obama's pledge to set US science in its rightful place.