turtles

The reptiles were named for their burrowing, and their tunnels shelter hundreds of other species

Scientists say the Mississippi Sound and Gulf of Mexico are important sea turtle habitats, but the 2010 oil spill and the 2019 opening of the Bonnet Carré Spillway hurt the turtle population.

Biologists often just call them herps, an abbreviated version of the term herpetofauna meaning the reptiles and amphibians of a specific region. The…