Benjamin Williams Leader paintings

Benjamin Williams Leader paintings
Bartolome Esteban Murillo paintings
Apart from increasing road kills, Gibbs suspects one other factor might be behind the population declines — pet collectors. He points out that spotted turtles can be sold for hundreds of dollars in Europe and that may be having a big impact on the animal."When a turtle is picked up by a person, it has the same effect as road kill — the animal and its future offspring are lost," he says.Pet turtles, he says, usually don't reproduce and often die in captivity.Most turtles put off sexual reproduction for up to 12 years and instead expend their energy growing their protective shells. In evolutionary terms, that's a big sacrifice. But their hard-earned shells offer long-term rewards. Under normal conditions, the reptiles can live for 60, sometimes even 70 years. Gibbs fears that now there may be a big problem with that life plan."Shells have protected adult turtles for eons," he says. "But suddenly there's a new element in the environment and evolution can't catch up fast enough."