Shells in trouble : turtle ecology, conservation, and the Asian Turtle Crisis

Turtles are more than just animals with shells. They have important jobs in nature, eating and being eaten by other living things. Tropical Asia is a biodiversity hotspot for turtles—more than one quarter of all turtle species on Earth are found here. Some sad news is that turtles are going extinct because of humans hunting the turtles and destroying their habitats. This situation has been named the Asian Turtle Crisis. Many professionals are working hard to conserve turtles, but most importantly you can help also. In this article, we give you some background on the ecology and conservation of turtles, and we hope to inspire you to help with turtle conservation.