sea turtles

By David Duffy and Catherine Eastman Plastic pollution has been found in practically every environment on the planet, with especially severe effects on ocean life. Plastic waste harms marine life in many ways – most notably, when animals become entangled in it or consume it. We work as scientists and rehabilitators at The Whitney Laboratory […]

By Elizabeth Claire Alberts When baby sea turtles hatch from their eggs, they skitter across the sand to the shoreline before disappearing into the open ocean. Many years later, by some remarkable feat, female turtles find their way back, sometimes traveling thousands of kilometers, to arrive at the exact beach where they were born. This […]

President Donald Trump sparked the ire of conservationists earlier this month when he opened the country’s only marine national monument in the Atlantic to commercial fishing. Now, some of them are suing to stop him and preserve the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, which protects 5,000 square miles of unique ocean habitat off […]

Australian researchers captured a stunning scene that looks like something out of Finding Nemo. The drone the scientists used recorded approximately 64,000 green turtles migrating near Australia’s Great Barrier Reef for nesting season, as CNN reported. The footage from the Queensland Government’s Department of Environment and Science (DES) spotted the turtles congregating at the world’s […]

By Jake Johnson In a move that environmentalists warned could further imperil hundreds of endangered species and a protected habitat for the sake of profit, President Donald Trump on Friday signed a proclamation rolling back an Obama-era order and opening nearly 5,000 square miles off the coast of New England to commercial fishing. “We’re opening […]

By Jiraporn Kuhakan Thailand has found the largest number of nests of rare leatherback sea turtles in two decades on beaches bereft of tourists because of the coronavirus pandemic, environmentalists say. From wild boars patrolling the Israeli city of Haifa to deer venturing into London suburbs, virus closures are drawing wildlife into the abandoned streets […]

Sea turtles became the face of the plastic pollution crisis when a video of a turtle with a plastic straw stuck up its nose went viral in 2015. Now, researchers have discovered one reason why ocean plastic is so dangerous for turtles: To them, it smells like food. “This ‘olfactory trap’ might help explain why […]

By Jessica Corbett In a new report about how the world’s coral reefs face “the combined threats of climate change, pollution, and overfishing” — endangering the future of marine biodiversity — a London-based nonprofit calls for greater global efforts to end the climate crisis and ensure the survival of these vital underwater ecosystems. The report, […]