The Turtle Survival Center, run by the Turtle Survival Alliance, exists to buy time for species that no longer have much of it. Founded in 2013 in South Carolina, the center functions as a high-security refuge and breeding facility for some of the world’s rarest freshwater turtles and tortoises. It houses hundreds of animals representing species pushed to the edge by habitat loss, wildlife trafficking, and slow reproductive biology that leaves little margin for error. In a recent story, Liz Kimbrough describes not a museum of extinction, but a working institution focused on continuity. That focus reflects the broader predicament turtles face. More than half of all turtle and tortoise species are now threatened with extinction, according to recent global assessments. The crisis is most acute in Asia, where demand for turtles as food, pets, and ingredients in traditional medicine has collided with deforestation and infrastructure expansion. Many species are harvested faster than they can reproduce. A female turtle removed from the wild represents not just a single loss, but decades of future offspring that will never exist. A series of photos shows a rote island snake necked turtle being born at TSC. Image courtesy of Cris Hagen. The Turtle Survival Center operates as a response to that arithmetic. It maintains genetically valuable “founder” animals, breeds species that have disappeared from their native landscapes, and trains specialists who may be called on when authorities seize trafficked turtles in large numbers. In those moments, survival depends on practical knowledge: water chemistry,…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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