Behler Chelonian Center

New tropical greenhouse at the BCC

Eric Goode with a confiscated Ploughshare Tortoise in Madagascar

Mexican Spotted Wood Turtles mating

Peter Pritchard and Brian Horne at the BCC

Radiated Tortoise at the BCC

Spider Tortoise hatchling at the BCC

Tortoise house at the BCC

Burmese Star Tortoise hatchlings at the BCC

Miye McCullough with Suwanee River Cooter in Wekiwa Springs

The Behler Chelonian Center (BCC), established in 2005, is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the conservation and research of freshwater turtles and tortoises whose wild populations are under pressure. Our work includes conservation projects where turtles are threatened in the wild, protection of habitat, conservation education, and field based research of endangered turtle biology. BCC also is campaigning for conservation legislation, re-evaluation of species’ status in the wild, and lobbying for the most comprehensive protection of turtles and tortoises where threatened.

Along with our conservation efforts in the wild, the BCC operates a strategic captive breeding and management program in Southern California. Since its inception, the Center has successfully bred 15 threatened species. The Center houses over 300 turtles and tortoises currently representing 25 taxa. The animals at the Center include several founders of the Radiated Tortoise (Astrochelys radiata) Species Survival Plan, and also include the first recorded Spider Tortoise (Pyxis arachnoides) hatchlings in the United States.

The Center supports researchers, ecologists, conservationists, students and filmmakers, all for the cause of turtle conservation. BCC has hosted many of the world’s leading authorities on turtle and tortoise ecology and conservation, including Ray Farrell, Brian Horne, Rick Hudson, Jim Juvik, Ross Kiester, Gerald Kuchling, Thomas Leuteritz, Tom Licitra, Russell Mittermeier, Peter Praschag, Peter Pritchard, and Craig Stanford. Annually, BCC funds foreign students to stay at the Center to participate in our conservation projects.

BCC’s mission to ensure the survival of turtle and tortoise species in the wild will be achieved through conservation and education. Towards this end, the Center cares for an assurance colony of threatened animals, and maintains a captive reproduction program of endangered turtle species, as long as the wild populations are under pressure. We are developing detailed protocols for the successful breeding and husbandry of endangered tortoise and turtle species. Importantly, BCC is committed to promoting in situ conservation and field research of threatened and endangered chelonians globally.