After an important hatching season, conservationists such as Billy Collett celebrate the progress made to save the species of freshwater turtles in danger of Australia from extinction.
His organization, Aussie Ark, has been raising three different species in the Australian Reptile Park in Somersby, NSW, doubling its success this year.
“So exciting,” said Collett.
“Hunter River turtle eggs of forty -eight, 39 Bell turtle eggs and a whop of 85 turtle eggs from the Manning River. We will worry and take care of these beautiful small offspring until they are larger and more strong, and then we can return them to the wild rivers where they belong.”
He said programs like this arrive at a time when old animals are under threat.
“These turtles literally date back millions of years to the age of dinosaurs and now face extinction, which is really annoying,” said Collett.
“That is why this project is absolutely critical for the survival of the species.”
Why are these turtles under threat?
Martin Dillon, senior of land services of the local land services of Tablalands del Norte, leads an operation to protect the local population from the Bell turtles, which are exclusively in the north of Nueva Wales del Sur.
He said that the species has been pushed to the edge of extinction in recent years by invasive predators, particularly European foxes.
Dillon said the foxes, considered a kind of plague in Australia, train their puppies to patrol the banks of the river where the turtles put their eggs during the nesting season.
Dr. Lou Streeting, a researcher at the University of New England, said that more than 95 percent of Bell’s nests are partly attacked due to the turtle breeding approach.
“They have no maternal attention, so they deposit their eggs on the riverbank and the female returns to the water,” he said. “Eggs are very vulnerable to foxes.”
Billy Collett, Operations Manager of Aussie Ark, which holds an Hunter River turtle egg.
Dillon said his team has two different approaches to protect baby turtles, the first of which implies eliminating the eggs from the threat of foxes.
Under an association with the University of New England, female turtles are taken for a couple of days, and their eggs are harvested before being returned to the river.
“Those eggs remain in the laboratory in the incubator to pass and thus pass through the foxes,” Dillon said.
Streeting said that the joint program has been incredibly successful, producing about 4,000 babies for babies in just a few years.
“Babies take 60 days to hatch, and then those babies return to river tracks,” he said.
“Only this season, we have produced 1,085 babies, and during our program in recent years, we have now produced just over 3,800 offspring and returned them to the river tracks.”
The conservationist Billy Collett said his organization, Aussie Ark, is working to save species of fresh water turtles in danger of extinction of extinction. Fountain: Supplied / Australian ark
The other method that the services of the university and the local land are using implies protecting the nesting sites themselves.
“Then, find nests and protect them individually with wire mesh, and also put temporary electric fences around the cousin nesting areas to deter foxes,” said Streeting. “And those nest protection methods have proven to be very, very successful.”
Dillon said it is almost impossible to keep the foxes completely, but the electric fence can help redirect them.
And although the foxes are still a main enemy of the Mary River turtle in the southeast of Queensland, the extravagant species has faced historical threats of humans that have left their population near extinction.
In the 1960s and 1970s, egg collection was a rampant since turtles were a popular pet in Australia.
Around 15,000 were sent to stores every year, marked as the “turtle of cent”.
Dr. Mariana Campbell, a specialized research professor in animal science at Charles Darwin University, said this had a great impact on her population.
The species of critical extinction is often called the “green hair turtle” or the “punk turtle” due to algae that grow in its head, sometimes forming what a hairstyle like Mohawk seems like.
While the number of reproductive females fell 95 percent between 1970 and 2000, Campbell said he has witnessed first -hand of how community groups and traditional owners have helped change the course.
“I have been involved with the community group on the Mary River for almost 20 years, and I know that nothing can replace that,” Campbell said.
“The local commitment, the local knowledge and the passion they have for their backyard.”
She said these efforts have turned out that thousands of turtles from the Mary River River return to the river each year.
