carapace peered calmly into the distance.]]> dissuade wealthy collectors willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars for critically endangered turtles and tortoises.]]> gleaming carapace peered calmly into the distance.]]> blemished her natural beauty, so she's just a number in a system now," Gibbons said.]]> engraved at the Singapore Zoo in December.]]> pamper egg clutches until they hatch and babies until they are old enough to fend for themselves.]]> incubated.]]> poaching and dissuade wealthy collectors willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars for critically endangered turtles and tortoises.]]> weary eyes and gleaming carapace peered calmly into the distance.]]> confiscated ploughshare tortoises were engraved at the Singapore Zoo in December.]]> intense collecting, hunting and habitat destruction have brought that species and dozens of others to the brink of extinction.]]> certified by the American Zoo and Aquarium Association, the conservancy is not open to the public or listed in the phone book.]]> elusive at best.]]> tortoise on a small table.]]>