a year ago
147517
558
Posted On: May 23rd 2025, 11:56 am
There is both intrinsic and instrumental value to turtles. It is both moral and pragmatic to appreciate and protect this incredibly unique group of animals.
The Testudines and their ancestors are a group older than the dinosaurs. From the earliest stem turtles, to their ~488 modern taxa, and the thousands of intermediates come and gone, the turtles have remained both a shocking conglomeration of unique adaptations and very unchanged. They’ve mastered land and sea, oxygen-rich and anoxic environments, life in a shell, and how to persist. Their way of life has captivated us, evidenced by their prominent place in our collective human culture. They are a unique group, deserved of a seat at the table of existence, simply in that they exist and inspire.
If the former argument is not enough, which I believe to be the case for many people, probably for good reason in many cases, it is useful to note that when evolutionary biology is wedded with the incentive to conserve, a good deal of directly “selfish” reasons to promote turtle conservation - and conservation broadly - arise. To start, the turtles are more similar to us as humans than you might think. We generally live to comparable ages and reach maturity around the same time. Considering these similarities in life history with the fact that many solutions in human medicine simply require looking to nature, it stands to reason the turtles can teach us a lot about ourselves, directly in some cases, indirectly in others. By deciphering the genetic code of the turtles, and pontificating on how natural selection has shaped it, breakthroughs in cancer, diabetes, aging, reperfusion injury, epigenetics, genomic landscape, human evolution, etc. research lie within reach. By looking under the turtle’s hood, we can save numerous lives, and enrich many others.
On this #WorldTurtleDay please take a moment to reflect on what turtles mean to you, and if you’re inclined, take a step to protect this most threatened group of vertebrates. Do it for them, yourself, your family, or your friends. We all have a stake in life because we’re living, and can learn from each other.
📸 - Hatchling Narrow-bridged Musk Turtles @bfreebz
The Testudines and their ancestors are a group older than the dinosaurs. From the earliest stem turtles, to their ~488 modern taxa, and the thousands of intermediates come and gone, the turtles have remained both a shocking conglomeration of unique adaptations and very unchanged. They’ve mastered land and sea, oxygen-rich and anoxic environments, life in a shell, and how to persist. Their way of life has captivated us, evidenced by their prominent place in our collective human culture. They are a unique group, deserved of a seat at the table of existence, simply in that they exist and inspire.
If the former argument is not enough, which I believe to be the case for many people, probably for good reason in many cases, it is useful to note that when evolutionary biology is wedded with the incentive to conserve, a good deal of directly “selfish” reasons to promote turtle conservation - and conservation broadly - arise. To start, the turtles are more similar to us as humans than you might think. We generally live to comparable ages and reach maturity around the same time. Considering these similarities in life history with the fact that many solutions in human medicine simply require looking to nature, it stands to reason the turtles can teach us a lot about ourselves, directly in some cases, indirectly in others. By deciphering the genetic code of the turtles, and pontificating on how natural selection has shaped it, breakthroughs in cancer, diabetes, aging, reperfusion injury, epigenetics, genomic landscape, human evolution, etc. research lie within reach. By looking under the turtle’s hood, we can save numerous lives, and enrich many others.
On this #WorldTurtleDay please take a moment to reflect on what turtles mean to you, and if you’re inclined, take a step to protect this most threatened group of vertebrates. Do it for them, yourself, your family, or your friends. We all have a stake in life because we’re living, and can learn from each other.
📸 - Hatchling Narrow-bridged Musk Turtles @bfreebz
Comments (558)
a year agojustincruz8374
I just realized their beaks have a little ‘fangs’ like what you sometimes see with Pokémon
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