Railway workers in Japan have devised an ingenious scheme to prevent daredevil turtles from meeting a grisly end - and delaying trains - while crossing train tracks. The slow-moving reptiles in western Nara prefecture were responsible for 13 disruptions to train services between 2002 and 2014 after tumbling into the spaces between rail switches and getting squashed, according to West Japan Railways officials. So the rail company teamed up with the Suma Aqualife aquarium in Kobe to find a novel solution: installing shallow trenches under the tracks that allow the plodding creatures to cross without getting to death.

Workers save turtles from grisly death. (2015, December 2). Manila Standard, p. B8.