Rafetus Breeding Attempt 2011

by: Dr. Gerald Kuchling With the glass barriers around both ponds at Suzhou Zoo having been completed in the summer of 2010, the male and the female Yangtze giant softshell turtle (Rafetus swinhoei) have roamed together in both the small and the large pond since 24 August 2010. For the first time, the male and […]

Thank you for supporting the TSA!

by: Heather Lowe The New Year is officially here and it’s time for us to say THANK YOU! In early December, we presented you with a challenge from our Board of Directors and the Andrew Sabin Family Foundation. Their generous offer was to match (dollar for dollar) any donations that came in prior to December […]

Cautious Optimism for the Sulawesi Forest Turtle

by: Charles Innis, VMD, DABVP Management of a sustainable captive population of the critically endangered Sulawesi forest turtle (Leucocephalon yuwonoi) has been a priority of the TSA since its inception. A Taxon Management Plan was established in 2003 to develop a census of the known worldwide captive specimens of this species, monitor reproductive efforts, and […]

Stocking up on School Supplies

by: Heather Lowe Rick Hudson (TSA President) is currently traveling in Madagascar with TSA Members Christina Castellano (The Orianne Society) and Michael Ogle (Knoxville Zoo). Part of their mission is to deliver supplies to the brand new school in Antsakoamasy. (For more on the school and its construction, click here.) We were very pleasantly surprised […]

Searching for the Burmese Roofed Turtle

by: Steve and Kalyar Platt The TSA/WCS Myanmar Program Turtle Team returned this week from a two month expedition up the Chindwin River in northwestern Myanmar. Access to this region by foreigners has long proven difficult owing to security concerns that have recently lessened. The principal objectives of the expedition were to determine if any […]

TSA Conducts Tortoise Husbandry Workshops in Madagascar

by: Rick Hudson In response to the growing number of tortoise confiscations in Madagascar, and a lack of trained tortoise-care personnel and dedicated facilities, the TSA recently conducted two husbandry training workshops aimed at improving care and survival. Often, these confiscations end poorly for the tortoises involved, and we continue to see appalling levels of […]

New TSA Captive Breeding Facility

by: Heather Lowe In response to the magnitude of the turtle extinction crisis, the TSA was founded on the belief that some critically endangered species would not survive without long-term captive assurance colonies. Historically, the TSA’s assurance colonies have been spread over multiple locations as a hedge against a disease outbreak, fire, or other disaster […]

569 Radiated Tortoises seized at Airport in Madagascar

by: Herilala Randriamahazo and Heather Lowe On October 10, two Asian passengers on an Air Madagascar flight to Bangkok, Thailand and Guangzhou, China were arrested at Ivato International Airport after attempting to smuggle four suitcases full of 569 Critically Endangered Radiated Tortoises (Astrochelys radiata) through customs. This is a record number seizure for this airport […]

‘Tanintharyi Four’ Arrive in Yangon

by: Steve and Kalyar Platt Four adult (two males and two females) Asian Brown Tortoises (Manouria emys) arrived at the Yangon airport on Thursday, June 28, ultimately destined for an assurance colony at the Rakhine Yoma Elephant Sanctuary in Gwa, Myanmar. The tortoises were found in a village by the TSA/WCS Turtle Team during a […]

TSA Dedicates New School at Antsakoamasy

by: Rick Hudson From all over the Androy Region of southern Madagascar, they came: politicians, local officials, teachers, and of course the children – over 1000 of them. All wanted to be there to participate in the dedication ceremony for the region’s newest primary school, recently constructed with support from the Turtle Survival Alliance. What […]

Film Highlights Growing Radiated Tortoise Crisis

by: Rick Hudson The TSA, in collaboration with The Orianne Society (TOS), hired noted South Africa-based wildlife film makers Moz Images to cover the rapidly worsening crisis with Madagascar’s Radiated Tortoise. The film crew of Chris Scarfe and Aaron Gekoski accompanied Rick Hudson and Christina Castellano to Madagascar in September 2011 and the resulting short […]

New Book Available on Myanmar’s Turtles

by: Steve Platt Sitting astride the southern border of China, Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) has been on the frontlines of the battle to save Asia’s imperiled chelonian fauna ever since the global conservation community first became aware of the Asian Turtle Crisis in the mid-1990s. Unfortunately, resources for conservation are scarce in this impoverished […]