No, they are not pests! Even though turtle enthusiast and author Lutz Prauser playfully and somewhat provocatively claimed this in his 2016 book "Sometimes They Are Pests." Instead, he proves: they are treasures. And he sets out to demonstrate this in his new book. Although nearly all wild turtles hide from him as he travels through their native countries, he wanders for hours in vain through the maquis of Croatia or Greece, eventually coming to the stunning realization: everything that looks like a stone from a distance is indeed a stone. Everything that looks like a turtle from afar is still a stone. Well, almost everything. Sometimes it’s a gnarled root. But when he finally finds one, he is so thrilled that he not only takes countless photos of it but also sits down on the ground next to it.