Turtles are ‘right-flippered’ (via BBC Earth News)
Leatherback turtles tend to be the reptilian equivalent of “right-handed”. Across a population studied by scientists, more turtles preferred to use their right rear flipper rather than their left when laying eggs. The result, published in the journal Behavioural Brain Research, is the first time a species of turtle has found to prefer one limb over another.
The discovery adds to growing evidence that even lower vertebrates prefer to use one side of the body more often. Such preference is known by scientists as a “lateralised functional behaviour”, and it usually indicates that an animal’s brain function is also lateralised, with one side of the brain dominating control of certain tasks….
Barcoding Endangered Sea Turtles (via ScienceDaily)
Conservation geneticists who study sea turtles have a new tool to help track this highly migratory and endangered group of marine animals: DNA barcodes. DNA barcodes are short genetic sequences that efficiently distinguish species from each other—even if the samples from which the DNA is extracted are minute or degraded.
Now, a recently published research paper by scientists from the American Museum of Natural History and the University of Canberra, among other organizations, demonstrates that this technology can be applied to all seven sea turtle species and can provide insight into the genetic structure of a widely-dispersed and ancient group of animals.
Mosquito Threat To Giant Tortoise
The famous Galapagos giant tortoises could be at serious risk from mosquitoes that have developed a taste for reptile blood, experts have warned.
Scientists say increased tourism means there is now a greater risk of a disease-carrying insect being transported to the islands. Local mosquitoes that have evolved to feed on reptiles could then pick up the diseases and pass them on. Galapagos wildlife has little immunity to mosquitoes due to their isolation.
