The endangered Kemp's ridley sea turtle has been found feeding in the Gulf of Mexico, in waters threatened by oil spills, heavy commercial fishing and oxygen depletion. The Kemp's ridley turtle is the most endangered and smallest hard-shelled sea turtle in the world. A new study released jointly by the...

Turtle shells, which turn out to be complex structures made up of 50 bones, evolved long before dinosaurs roamed the earth, according to new research. Turtles and their shells now predate the Jurassic period, according to a study in the latest issue of Current Biology. It’s a body design that...

Light pollution along the Mediterranean is changing the nesting habits of sea turtles in Israel, according to new research. Orbital pictures of the region, coupled with sea turtle nesting data from Israel's National Parks Authority, revealed that the species of turtles in that area cluster their nests in darker spots....

Baby turtles inside their eggs squirm around to chill out or to turn up the heat, new research finds, a skill that could potentially enable them to choose their own sex. The study is the first evidence that embryonic turtles deliberately regulate their temperature. Such a talent is key for...

Eight people were arrested in Puerto Rico on charges of selling endangered sea turtles for human consumption, federal authorities said. The suspects were allegedly involved in selling the meat of 15 hawksbill turtles and seven green turtles, an undercover operation revealed. The eight individuals, all residents of Patillas and Arroyo,...

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. 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...

When ocean-dwelling leatherback turtles encounter fishing lines or nets, the results can be deadly for the large marine animals. To help protect these turtles, researchers have identified hotspots where some of these deadly encounters are likely occur in the Pacific Ocean. Leatherback turtles, which weigh up to 2,000 lbs. (900...

Mass Hatching (Image credit: C. Ferrara/Wildlife Conservation Society)A mass hatching of Giant South American river turtles occurs each year during the dry season in Brazil's Abufari Biological Reserve. The event produces hundreds of thousands of turtle hatchlings. Thousands of Turtles (Image credit: C. Ferrara/Wildlife Conservation Society)Researchers from the Wildlife Conservation...

More than 200,000 baby turtles recently crawled out of their shells and swarmed sandy riverbanks in the interior of Brazil. The mass hatching is an annual event for Great South American river turtles. Every time the dry season rolls around in the the Purus River basin in western Brazil, thousands...

Scattered dots of red and yellow decorate what appears to be an icy, blue terrain in this award-winning microscope photo, which is actually an image of a painted turtle's retina magnified 400 times. Dr. Joseph Corbo, a researcher at Washington University School of Medicine who studies how retinal photoreceptors interact...

Tag, You're It! (Image credit: Jim Abernethy)A young loggerhead turtle raised at the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton, Fla. to be tagged and tracked on its migration around the Atlantic. (NMFS Permit 1551) Satellite Tag (Image credit: Jim Abernethy)A satellite tag and attachment. Advances in technology and solar...

Baby sea turtles may not all follow the path scientists suspected the animals would travel. In fact, new satellite tracking shows that at least some turtles drop out and head for browner — and warmer — pastures. Scientists have long suspected that young sea turtles ride a large current called...

Fitting two halves (Image credit: New Jersey State Museum)What at first appeared to be an oddly placed stone, found in 2012 by amateur fossil hunter Gregory Harpel, turned out to be half of a fossilized sea turtle bone. The most amazing part: The other half was found more than 160...

Amanda Keledjian is a marine scientist at Oceana, the largest international advocacy group working solely to protect the world's oceans. She contributed this article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. On March 1, the sea-turtle nesting season officially began in Florida, with the wondrous appearance of leatherback sea...

Florida may be the American epicenter of weird wildlife crime, where contraband lizards spring zombie-like from the ground and riding manatees or sick sperm whales is practically a native art. In the latest animal-related offense to hit the Sunshine State, a man plead guilty Friday (March 28) to snatching 316...