Many concerned Vietnamese are focussed on the lake in the capital city, Hanoi, where veterinarians are deciding how to treat the sacred Hoan Kiem turtle.

Concern arose after the turtle was seen with open flesh wounds. Efforts to treat it began, involving ten government agencies and requiring the expansion of the lake's island.

The common musk turtle, Sternotherus odoratus, turns out to have an unusual ability: breathing underwater through its tongue.

In a paper, Austrian researchers describe how they noticed the turtle's curious eating habits under high-speed video, and used a scanning electron microscope to examine the lingual papillae.

The same group previously explained how a newt used its ribs as poisonous barbs, puncturing its own skin and that of animal hoping to consume it.

Also from the BBC: The "lost world" of Papua – Argonaut octopuses sail through sea

The Australian reports that a male Lavarack's turtle, originally thought to be extinct, was recently found in Queensland, Australia. In addition to its rarity, scientists are eager to examine the turtle for another reason: its species breathes through its cloaca--its rear orifice. "Over the next few days the 1kg turtle will be measured from top to toe and then suffer a more intrusive inspection. Scientists will stick a camera-headed fibre-optic cable into his cloaca to see how his breathing apparatus works."

Read an interview with Peter Laird about the new TMNT upcoming animated series debuting on FOX in the fall.

4Kids Entertainment and Mirage are planning to reintroduce today's generation of kids to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles again, with 26 episodes of a new cartoon series.

http://www.c21media.net/news/news_dtl.asp?id=3234&categ=3

The Olive Ridley turtle is heading for land at this time of year, to make the trek up beaches to lay it's eggs. But in one of their major nesting areas, thousands have been killed before even reaching the shore. Intangling fishing nets and fatal propeller injuries from illegal fishing trawlers have been responsible for an estimated 1,300 turtle deaths in the last few days.
Officals estimate many more will die before the end of the laying season, as they suspected 50,000 died last year at the same time, but feel powerless to stop illegal fishing in the area where nesting is taking place. The high casualties may drive this turtle to extinction.

The Seattle Times and our local NPR station report (scroll all the way to the bottom of the page), that a Pacific Ridley sea turtle is being treated with antibiotics at the Seattle Aquarium, after she washed ashore near the town of Ocean Shores. Ridley sea turtles normally don't venture this far north, and the cold water has exacerbated an injury. The turtle, which has been named "Arial," is expected to recover.

BBC Online has three stories related to endangered species:

The Javan rhinoceros, one of the world's most endangered species, is showing signs of recovery.

Loggerhead turtles can detect variations in the earth's magnetic field and navigate thereby.

Researchers use underwater acoustical equipment to track and count whales and dolphins.

I really don't seek out news about sea turtles, but this article was a little too weird for me to pass up. Weird, sad, but funny in an ironic kind of way. Satellite-tracked sea turtle ends up being eaten. Scientists hope to recover their expensive transmitter at some point.

It's really difficult to post news about animals you can't help, so this morning I kept an eye out for 'Help Your Favorite Animal' type news. I found one in a newspaper: the storms in Florida have wiped out over 80 sea turtle nests, of the 99 that biologists were monitoring. The Clearwater Marine Aquarium allows you to adopt nests for $25, and they'll keep you updated on the health of your choice.

What about your favorite animal charities? Post some of them in the comments section, so we can all find a good cause. :)

Some interesting stuff from Scientific American today... apparently great white sharks like their wives to stay home while they wander. And more disturbing, an article about the decline of the sea turtle because of poaching. This one contains a couple of disturbing and graphic pictures of turtles being cut up in restaurants, so don't read this one over lunch. There are prettier pictures, too, though.

I thought this was a rumor, but now I've seen it twice... there's a possibility for a Teenage Mutant Turtles movie using CGI. Coming Attractions has some information on their new site for the movie and SF Wire also has the story.

Michael Fry, co-creator of the Over the Hedge comic strip, told the Comics2Film website that DreamWorks honcho Jeffrey Katzenberg has picked up the strip's concept for development as a computer-animated feature film. Pacific Data Images (Antz) would reportedly develop the film. Hedge centers on a talking raccoon and turtle who live near suburbia.