Turtles

A strain of salmonella carried by small pet turtles has sickened more than 100 people and hospitalized at least 24 nationwide in the largest recorded outbreak of its kind, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday. Cases have been reported in 33 states, but mostly in California, Texas, Pennsylvania and Illinois. Most of the patients have been children. No one has died in the latest outbreak, which began in August.

The turtle tank at Nam Hoa Fish Market is empty, but not to worry: The manager of this bustling Chinatown store says he has plenty in back. "Big ones," he says, spreading his hands as wide as a Christmas turkey. He nods to a worker, who slides a large, waxed-cardboard box from a stack behind the counter and strips off the lid. Inside is a squirming burlap bag, from which he dumps two 15-pound softshell turtles that hit the concrete with a clop, then flail helplessly on their backs.

At least three dozen young sea turtles are getting a little vacation under heat lamps after being rescued from an arctic blast that caused the water temperature in an arm of the Gulf of Mexico to plummet 18 degrees in 48 hours. The turtles were left comatose by the rapid temperature drop this week in the shallow bay where they feed. Rescuers feared the cold would kill the turtles or make them too sluggish to avoid sharks.

Malaysia is studying a plan to clone leatherback turtles, an endangered species that scientists believe once swam with dinosaurs, an official said Thursday. The Fisheries Department hopes to embark on a leatherback cloning project that could cost $9 million over the next five years, said Director-General Junaidi Che Ayub. The clones could produce hatchlings to boost the population, he said. Some biologists say the plan is impractical and unlikely to succeed.

Just before daybreak, Arcelio Fuentes stands on the beach and empties a basket holding 93 baby sea turtles into the churning surf. Some of them are snatched by preying sea gulls and frigate birds, but most make it out into Montijo Gulf to begin their mysterious, thousand-mile journey to the Galapagos Islands and beyond.

A 176-year-old tortoise that was possibly one of the world's oldest living creatures, and believed by some to have once been in Charles Darwin's possession, has died of heart failure. The giant tortoise, known as Harriet, died at the Queensland-based Australia Zoo owned by "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin and his wife, Terri. Irwin said Saturday that Harriet's death was "not only a great loss for the world but a very sad day for my family. She was a grand old lady."

Alan Gordon, 64, a songwriter who with his writing partner Garry Bonner penned the Turtles' No. 1 hit "Happy Together" and other catchy pop songs in the 1960s, died of cancer Nov. 22 at his home in Scottsdale, Ariz. Besides "Happy Together," which topped the charts in March 1967, the songwriting duo also wrote "She'd Rather Be With Me," "You Know What I Mean" and "She's My Girl" for the Turtles, as well as "Celebrate" for Three Dog Night. On his own, Gordon wrote "My Heart Belongs to Me" for Barbra Streisand, who recorded it for her 1977 album "Streisand Superman."

For years, fishermen traded tall tales about the beast who lived at the bottom of the lake. He was huge, those who had seen him agreed, pulling ducks underwater and stealing fish from reel lines. Old Bob, the giant alligator snapping turtle of Fullerton's Laguna Lake, was the stuff of legend. In September, workers dredging the lake as part of a restoration project found truth in the rumors as they netted the 4-foot-long, 100-pound turtle.

Wildlife experts hope a secluded beach on Santa Cruz Island turns into a maternity ward for a mystery mother over the next couple of weeks. Since March, a wayward and persistent sea turtle has left telltale signs of nesting. Tracks suggest it could be an olive ridley hundreds of miles north of its main breeding grounds in Mexico and Costa Rica. Sea turtles are rare off Southern California, but when the occasional stray is sighted, it's more likely a green turtle.