Herpetology
Pig-nosed turtles are adorable — and that’s made them the target of traffickers
Pig-nosed turtles are so cute that thousands of them are being smuggled by animal traffickers to be sold as exotic pets. But while they’re adorable as babies, they grow up to become big, feisty animals that many people abandon — a problem for a species that’s considered threatened.
Florida alligator farm provides safe home for hundreds of birds
Birds have to worry about a bevy of predators when keeping their nests safe. There are opossum, rodents, snakes and large cats, like bobcats. But at an alligator farm in Florida, the birds have discovered they’re safe from their ground-based predators. But there is a cost there as well.
Biologist tries to save endangered butterfly species by capturing invasive iguanas
At a state park in Florida, a biologist is the only thing standing between the loss of a species of butterflies once prevalent all throughout south Florida. But even though he’s working hard to save the Miami Blue butterfly, his efforts may be too late.
High demand for sea turtles in China sends poachers toward Philippines
Chinese fishers have so badly depleted the population of sea turtles, many of them endangered, off the nation’s coasts that poachers are traveling far and wide to nab the sea reptiles. As China and the Philippines argue over stretches of the South China Sea, turtle poachers have already moved in.
