Breeding and rearing of endangered turtles in zoos - trend and distribution analysis

Turtles had first appeared on Earth more than 300 million years ago. While other an-imal species had evolved and subsequently perished, the turtles have survived due to their unique evolutionary adjustments. However, they were not prepared for rapid changes in nature, nor were they prepared for the human threat. There are currently 328 turtle species of which more than a half is in danger of extinction. One of the possible ways of preventing extinction of the rarest species of turtles in the wild may be their breeding in zoos. For the most endangered species, a suffi-cient and reproducing population there may be the last resort in preventing them from going extinct as well as give them a chance to eventually be reintroduced. In 2021, out of 50 endangered turtle species on the Turtles in trouble list, 41 spe-cies were bred in captivity in zoological gardens worldwide. Of these only 10 % of these had population greater than 500, 54 % had population greater than 50 and the remaining 36 % had population of up to 50. In 2021, only 26 species reproduced and during the years 2017-2021, 31 out of the 50 species had bred at least once