2021 Turtle Survival

Turtle Survival

2021

A Letter from the President

On July 12th, something extraordinary happened that inspired me as I began to write my annual missive: across Asia and in the U.S., Asian Mountain Tortoises (Manouria emys phayrei) began hatching simultaneously. In assurance colonies in Bangladesh, India, and Myanmar and at our Turtle Survival Center in South Carolina, hatchlings emerged in what I consider an amazing example of reproductive synchrony While it is not unusual for chelonians to follow their innate breeding cycle, a case such as this is rare. Remarkably, we have come a long way to reach this point, building breeding groups from trade confiscations and improving husbandry conditions for aging tortoises in Indian zoos. Asian Mountain Tortoise egg incubation can be challenging but these programs are learning from trial and error and are improving breeding success. Heavily hunted, the tortoises have disappeared from much of their former range, so in range assurance colonies are needed to ensure survival and provide stock for reintroductions (read about this effort on pages 34 and 46).

The excitement of the Asian Mountain Tortoise news was tempered by recent conversations I had with Kalyar Platt in

Yangon, Myanmar. Kalyar and her husband Steve manage the joint TSA/WCS turtle conservation program there, though they have been separated for nearly two years due to pandemic travel restrictions and the military coup in February. Despite personal hardship and political instability, Kalyar and her team press on with incredible resolve and hope for the future (read about their story on page 46).

As a global conservation organization enduring disease, political instability, and natural disasters, we have learned much about infrastructure in countries where we work. A resounding truth emerged amongst our partners and projects: turtle teams would not be stopped. Some projects experienced delays due to travel restrictions and finances suffered, but we did not lay off a single employee (read about our new US-based staff on page 4). Though the pandemic is far from behind us—indeed COVID-19 is surging here in the US and in some countries where we work—we are working to resume all of our projects.

In Madagascar, we recently moved the first 1,000 Radiated Tortoises (Astrochelys radiata) to pre-release enclosures for a six-month acclimation period prior to their reintroduction to the wild (read more on page 24). We are expanding our footprint in Africa, seeding new programs in South Sudan, Egypt, and Kenya, and launching initiatives in Mexico, an important turtle diversity hotspot. I am also pleased to report that TSA’s Field Conservation Committee has been conducting a comprehensive evaluation of all endangered tortoises and freshwater turtles and determining what role TSA may play in their recovery. We are leaving no turtle unturned in our analysis, with the goal of identifying species at risk of slipping through the cracks. By highlighting them early, we can begin to direct research and conservation resources to improve their status. Our new Field Conservation Plan will—when combined with our Animal Management Plan—serve as a blueprint for TSA’s Commitment to Zero Turtle Extinctions. Stay tuned, as new species and country initiatives will continue to emerge as this analysis progresses.

TSA has become a powerful force for turtle conservation, pushing through adversity when it confronts us. For that, we owe our members and supporters a great deal of gratitude. As always, thank you for helping us ensure that turtles remain a part of our lives.

Rick Hudson, President

Scott Hillard

TABLE OF CONTENTS

18 The “Bog” Picture

32 Kinixys

52 A Conservation Breeding Center for Cambodia’s Turtles

56 Emergency Relief for Malaysia’s Terrapin Guardians

Range County Updates

6 AZA SAFE

9 Turtle Survival Center 13 Belize 16 Belize / NAFTRG 17 NAFTRG 20 Colombia

Madagascar 30 South Sudan 34 India 42 Bangladesh - CCA

44 Bangladesh - Batagur baska 46 Myanmar 50 Cambodia 54 Indonesia

58 Vietnam News & Announcements

2 Board Updates

4 Meet the Staff

12 Chelonian Husbandry Internship 2021 40 Behler Award 61 Pritchard Award

62 Dick Vogt Obituary

63 Turtle Conservation Fund

DBST

65 Member Spotlights

66 Support the TSA 67 Partners

68 Donor Recognition

About the Cover: North American box turtles (genus Terrapene) are highly sought-after for the international pet trade. Each year in the United States and Mexico, countless numbers are collected from the wild and often illegally smuggled to foreign destinations. Many of these, however, are confiscated by state and federal law enforcement officers. In 2021, the Association of Zoos & Aquariums Saving Animals From Extinction (AZA SAFE): American Turtles Program was formally incorporated with Turtle Survival Alliance (read about this on pages 6-8). This program’s ultimate goal is to return confiscated turtles to the wild. In addition to trade, box turtle populations suffer losses through such threats as habitat destruction, alteration, and fragmentation, as well as disease, personal collection, and road mortality. The male Eastern Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina) featured on our cover was assisted in the direction it was heading across a busy four-lane highway by TSA’s Jordan Gray this May. Photo: Jordan Gray

“Zero turtle extinctions in the 21st century”—a bold pledge by a bold group of conservationists. Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA) now is in its 20th year of this commitment to the more than 300 tortoise and freshwater turtle species and the six continents on which they reside. Created in 2001 in response to the “Asian Turtle Crisis,” the name given to the rampant and unsustainable harvest of Asian turtles, TSA has since expanded to create a global chelonian conservation network across 13 countries.

During its first four years, TSA operated as a task force for the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Tortoise and Freshwater

TSA Welcomes Allison Alberts to the Board About Turtle Survival Alliance

Turtle Specialist Group. In 2004, TSA became an independent 501(c) (3) nonprofit, initially with a home base in Texas at the Fort Worth Zoo. With growth also came the need for a facility to house and provide assurance colonies for some of the world’s most endangered turtles and tortoises. Thus, we constructed the Turtle Survival Center, now home to more than 700 specimens, in rural coastal South Carolina.

With your help, TSA provides breeding programs, assurance colonies, field research, culturally appropriate conservation initiatives and public outreach, and shares new research and techniques throughout the worldwide turtle and tortoise

conservation community. Through collaborations with zoos, aquariums, universities, private turtle enthusiasts, veterinarians, government agencies, and conservation organizations, TSA is widely recognized as a catalyst for turtle conservation, with a reputation for swift and decisive action.

Turtle Survival Alliance continues to be a global force in the effort to protect tortoises and freshwater turtles from their most significant threats. Habitat loss, poaching, and pollution continue to wreak havoc on turtle and tortoise populations worldwide. TSA is committed, now more than ever, to fight for the preservation of these animals.

Allison Alberts retired from the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance in 2020, where she served as Chief Conservation and Research Officer. She has expertise in reptile and amphibian reintroduction programs, as well as species recovery planning. Allison is co-founder of the IUCN Iguana Specialist Group and serves on the IUCN Conservation Planning and Conservation Translocation Specialist Groups. She serves on the boards of the Center for Plant Conservation, Conservation Biology Institute, and International Iguana Foundation. In addition, she serves on the Advisory Board of the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conser-

vation Fund. What excites her most about the Turtle Survival Alliance is the focus on direct conservation action, the deep emphasis on partnership, and the attention given to species at high risk of extinction. We also welcomed back long-time Board members Bill Dennler, Russ Mittermeier, and Hugh Quinn after their “gap year,” all of which remained active on committees during that time. We heartily thank our departing Board members Walter Sedgwick, Lonnie McCaskill, Dwight Lawson, and Anders Rhodin who will continue working with us as members of committees.

Helen Crowley; Jordan Gray

Meet the Team

Meet our outstanding new staff at Turtle Survival Alliance

Chelsea Rinn

Chelsea joined Turtle Survival Alliance as Development Coordinator in March 2021.

She began her career as the Development Assistant at the Roanoke Valley SPCA in Virginia after completing an undergraduate degree at Virginia Tech. Here she found her calling in nonprofit development and a passion for working with animals. Later, she earned a Master’s degree in Nonprofit Leadership Studies from the University of Lynchburg, while working at Zoo Knoxville in Tennessee. Her tenure at Zoo Knoxville further cultivated a love for conserving wildlife and wild places, with a particular interest in chelonians. It was here that she learned of the Turtle Survival Alliance and experienced her first ever Drink Beer. Save Turtles.® event. She has long been passionate about TSA’s mission and is looking forward to sharing that passion and getting to know TSA’s members and donors.

A Virginia native, Chelsea grew up exploring the rivers, lakes and mountains of Appalachia, developing her love of wildlife and the outdoors from a young age. In fact, some of her most vivid childhood memories include helping box turtles cross the road while hiking and biking with her siblings. When she is not traveling or exploring the outdoors, Chelsea enjoys watching baseball, reading, and spending time with her family.

Dave Collins

Dave joined the Turtle Survival Alliance in July 2021 as Director of North American Turtle Conservation and Program Leader of the AZA SAFE: American Turtle Program.

Dave holds a bachelor’s degree in Biology from the State University of New York at Albany and brings over 40 years of experience in Zoos and Aquariums. He began his zoo career at Jacksonville Zoo where he was responsible for the first Northern Hemisphere breeding of the Aldabra Tortoise. In 1983 he returned to New York to help reopen Burnett Park Zoo in Syracuse. There he conducted field studies of bog, spotted and wood turtles. He continues to monitor an upstate New York wood turtle population that he discovered in 1973. In 1991, Dave joined the Tennessee Aquarium as Curator of Forests, becoming Director of Forests and Animal Behavior in 2017. There he assembled one of the largest living public collections of turtles in North America. In 1997, he designed the long-running exhibit, “Turtles: Nature’s Living Sculptures,” and completed a major renovation of the gallery in 2020.

His most recent efforts have focused on combatting the illegal trade in North American turtles through the development of the AZA SAFE: American Turtle Program, a perfect fit for TSA’s expanding role in the conservation of North American turtles.

Jordan Gray; Peter Rosenbaum

Kelly Currier

Kelly joined the Turtle Survival Alliance as a Chelonian Keeper in December of 2020. Aspiring to specialize in endangered species recovery work, she became a hybrid between Field Biologist and Animal Keeper. Previously, Kelly worked as a Research Assistant and Field Technician for Archbold Biological Station, White Oak Conservation, and the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission to help save the Florida Grasshopper Sparrow through a breeding and release project. Her other experience in husbandry includes working with St. Catherine’s Island, San Diego Zoo’s San Clemente Loggerhead Shrike captive breeding and release program, the Georgia Sea Turtle Center, Loggerhead Marinelife Center, and Cincinnati Zoo. Her field experience with birds and turtles in their home ecosystems contribute to her inspiration in creating habitats for animals under human care. Spending the past few years studying wild animals’ nesting, movement, and foraging behaviors has enabled her to incorporate what she’s learned from field work into giving animals at the Turtle Survival Center the best habitats possible. Her goals are to help protect species on the brink of extinction and to fight for the protection and restoration of their habitats. Her passions range from protecting biodiversity to human advocacy and beyond. She enjoys music, the ocean, exploring wild places, and unique conversations.

Rachael Harff

Rachael joined TSA in March 2021 as a Chelonian Keeper. Rachael knew she wanted to have a career working with animals from a young age. She pursued her passion by obtaining a BS in Animal Science from Illinois State University. While in college, Rachael became particularly interested in animal husbandry. She first gained experience in this field through volunteering at Miller Park Zoo and working part-time at a local dog rescue in Bloomington, Illinois. Following graduation, Rachael relocated to South Carolina in 2018. She began working at a local veterinary clinic, working her way up to lead veterinary assistant. Rachael then began a resident 6-month biology internship with the South Carolina Aquarium, focusing in herpetology, mammology, and ornithology. There, she became particularly passionate about working with reptiles and amphibians. She continued to volunteer in the aquarium’s herpetology department through mid-2020. She also began volunteering weekly as an animal keeper at Magnolia Plantation & Gardens Zoo & Nature Center. Rachael is fully devoted to animal care, and is particularly passionate about conservation of endangered species.

Keeping American Turtles SAFE

by Dave Collins

My path skirting the edge of the woods is barely a trail, yet indelibly etched in my brain. I’ve followed the same path hundreds of times over the past 45 years. It leads me to a woodland stream that falls off the mountain behind me and spreads on the valley floor. Beaver repeatedly dam the stream in this stretch, only to have their labors washed away every five to ten years. But the main object of my visits, the Wood Turtle (Glyptemys insculpta), is well adapted to this dynamic, highly cyclical environment. Though surrounded by fields of corn and hay, this pocket, remarkably, has changed little over this near half century. Over all these years I’ve come to know this population of Wood Turtles well, and realize what a rare and special place this is. And, also, how fragile it is.

Though largely escaping the perils of an ever-developing world, an insidious threat is growing that could quickly undermine the survival of this population. Unscrupulous collectors could easily destroy this entire population. The illegal trade in wild North American terrestrial and freshwater turtles has been steadily increasing over the past decade. Many state and federal law enforcement officials and wildlife biologists consider it a conservation crisis. Between 2018 and 2020, eleven documented U.S. cases involved 11,892 illegally taken North American turtles. From 2017-2020, more than 7,000 North American turtles were detected, detained, or seized at a single Port of Entry.

From left to right: Thirteen Wood Turtles duct taped and bound for illegal trade were intercepted by law enforcement. This “take event” would effectively send the author’s population spiraling toward extinction; A male Wood Turtle sits beside its idyllic stream habitat in Upstate New York.

These documented cases are just a fraction of the enormous scope of the trade.

Turtle populations cannot sustain this level of loss. While already facing devastating loss of habitat, the targeted effect of poaching can easily push a population to the point where it cannot recover. They simply don’t have the reproductive potential to recover these losses. As I wade through the clear waters of “my” stream, I recall an image of 13 wood turtles, bound with duct tape on the tailgate of a poacher’s truck. This group was fortunately intercepted by state wildlife officers and returned to their stream. The loss of this number of adult Wood Turtles from my study population would almost certainly send it spiraling to extinction.

In the U.S. we are rapidly losing the places where turtles live. It is estimated that more than 50,000 acres of wetlands are lost every year. The loss of upland habitat is far greater as humans compete for this land for housing, industry, and agriculture. To this, we add the numbers lost to illegal trade. We must find a more proactive approach to saving our turtles: to restore declining populations, reclaim lost or degraded habitats, and reintroduce populations where possible. The turtles rescued from illegal trade can play a vital role in these efforts.

Though these challenges are daunting, there is a rapidly growing commitment from a wide array of agencies and organizations to find solutions. In one of these, the Associa-

tion of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), I found the right vehicle to help this cause. The AZA SAFE (Saving Animals from Extinction) Program integrates the work of state and federal biologists that focus on the conservation of wild populations with the captive efforts of the zoo and aquarium community. While often following separate tracks, each brings critical resources to the table. The SAFE program quickly gained support from both field biologists and zoos and aquariums. In February 2020, the AZA SAFE: American Turtle Program was approved with 13 founding zoo and aquarium members. Today, that number has almost doubled with the Turtle Survival Alliance providing a home base for the Program.

The American Turtle SAFE Program focuses on five North American species: Spotted, Bog, Wood, Blanding’s, and Eastern Box turtles and has three goals:

• Conserve and expand wild populations.

• Assist regulators, wildlife managers, and law enforcement efforts to protect wild turtles.

• Develop a pathway for confiscated turtles to contribute to effective conservation efforts.

Program Plan

The Program Plan is built around a set of closely inter-related Strategic Objectives, each with a dedicated working group. One of the most critical and immediate needs is to expand our capacity to hold confiscated turtles, and develop a rapid response network to move turtles quickly from the point to confiscation to dedicated care facilities. Data Acquisition, Health and Welfare, and Genetic Analysis are critical foundation blocks that will each contribute to our ability to make the most informed decisions regarding the future of these turtles. Healthy turtles of known provenance may be returned to their place of origin while others may be more suitable to form conservation colonies, serving educational or research roles, or serve as founder stock

to produce offspring for restoration programs.

An over-arching educational component, the Schoolhouse Initiative, is integrated into many of the Ecological Projects and addresses the important elements of raising public awareness and support for North American turtle conservation and providing opportunities for direct engagement. TSA’s well-developed communication system and turtle conservation network will play a key role in getting these messages out and engaging more stakeholders. TSA’s extensive experience and expertise in husbandry and logistics in handling large confiscations will be a huge asset to the SAFE Program, providing opportunities for TSA to expand its facilities and scope to accommodate more imperiled North American species. Perhaps most important is the opportunity to engage in research into the ecological restoration of free-ranging turtle populations that will not only benefit our North American turtles, but will have direct application to restoration of Critically Endangered turtles around the world.

Contact: Dave Collins, Turtle Survival Alliance, 1030 Jenkins Road, Suite D., Charleston, SC 29407, USA [dcollins@turtlesurvival.org]

The AZA SAFE: American Turtle Program is built around ten Strategic Objectives, each with a dedicated working group including members from AZA zoos and aquariums, federal and state wildlife agencies, academic institutions, and other NGOs.

Strategic Objectives

1. Trade and Regulatory Affairs

2. Data acquisition, tracking and SSP population management

3. Health and Welfare

4. Genetic analysis

5. Confiscations: Rapid response and chain of custody management

6. Confiscations: Case studies

7. Conservation Colonies

8. Ecological Projects

9. The Schoolhouse Initiative

10. Investigating Turtle Races

TURTLE SURVIVAL CENTER

Expansion Continues in the Lowcountry

New staff, new turtles, and a new building

by Cris Hagen, Clinton Doak, Carol Alvarez, Kelly Currier, and Rachael Harff

While the world at large and the TSA continue to endure the challenges of a global pandemic, the Turtle Survival Center (TSC) in 2021 was able to continue its important work of breeding captive colonies of some of the world’s most endangered turtle species, conduct new research, and even expand our facilities.

Careful bloodline management is high-priority at the TSC, with management of 20 species of Endangered and Critically Endangered turtle. We embarked on an exciting

genetic project in collaboration with Natalia Gallego-Garcia and Brad Shaffer’s lab at the University of California-Los Angeles to develop tools that will help guide population management. By analyzing the relationships of wild caught and captive bred individuals within the captive population, we are able to create a family pedigree, along with inbreeding and kinship charts, to determine the most compatible pairings to maximize genetic diversity within the population. The first species we analyzed, the Red-necked Pond Turtle (Mauremys nigricans), comprise more than 100 in

Visitors Matt Patterson and Sy Montgomery, TSC Interns Lauren Otterness and Lily Kirkpatrick, and Chelonian Keepers Kelly Currier and Rachael Harff get acquainted with one of the wild residents of the TSC grounds, a young Common Snapping Turtle.

Clockwise from top left: Bourret’s Box Turtles, Southern Vietnam Box Turtles, Rote Island Snake-necked Turtles, and Indochinese Box Turtles all continued reproductive success at the TSC in 2021; An Asian Black Tortoise forages in its outdoor habitat.

our collection. A number of them had unknown parentage prior to their arrival here, so it was imperative that we fully understand their genetic lineages before continuing to breed this species for conservation. We will continue these genetic analyses for other species we manage as time and funding permit.

In July, we broke ground on the Assurance Colony Expansion building (aka ACE). This new 2400 sq. ft. facility will greatly augment our capacity to raise juveniles and species that need to be kept warm during the winter months. The climate-controlled space will add up to 164 small to medium-sized enclosures to help manage the many new young turtles we have produced at the TSC. While the building itself will be completed by fall 2021, since initial budgeting, the cost of building materials has increased dramatically during the pandemic. As a result, the TSA will continue fundraising efforts to furnish the building with husbandry necessities, including metal racks, enclosures, and associated plumbing. While we anxiously await completion of the new building, we are also continuing other projects to enhance the TSC facilities: upgrading our electrical capacity to critical areas like the Sulawesi Greenhouse and renovating our existing Turtle Winter Holding building so it will be better insulated and more energy efficient.

Since last year, we added two new chelonian keeper staff at the TSC who have become essential members of the team (see Meet the Team, page 5). We also hosted two interns for the summer months as we continue to advance the internship program, now in its fifth year. The summer months also brought a degree of normalcy to the TSC as visitors once again joined us for tours and TSC staff participated in some local outreach events in Charleston again.

The TSC staff continue to excel at breeding species such as the Indochinese Box Turtle (Cuora galbinfrons) and Bourret’s Box Turtle (Cuora bourreti), with about 30 and 20 projected to hatch in 2021, respectively. Other species expected to hatch this year are: Yellow-headed Box Turtle (Cuora aurocapitata), Yellow-margined Box Turtle (Cuora flavomarginata), McCord’s Box Turtle (Cuora mccordi), Keeled Box Turtle (Cuora mouhotii mouhotii), Southern Keeled Box Turtle (Cuora mouhotii obsti), Pan’s Box Turtle (Cuora pani), Vietnamese Pond Turtle (Mauremys annamensis), Red-necked Pond Turtle (Mauremys nigricans), and Beale’s Eyed Turtle (Sacalia bealei). Species that either lay eggs early in the year or year-round that have already

hatched at the time of this writing include the Rote Island Snake-necked Turtle (Chelodina mccordi), Southeast Asian Box Turtle (Cuora amboinensis), Southern Vietnam Box Turtle (Cuora picturata), Sulawesi Forest Turtle (Leucocephalon yuwonoi), Asian Black Tortoise (Manouria emys phayrei), and the Four-eyed Turtle (Sacalia quadriocellata).

In expanding our captive-breeding efforts for Critically Endangered species of the Asian box turtle genus Cuora, the TSC was fortunate to acquire several long-term captive, wild-caught adult Chinese Three-striped Box Turtles (Cuora trifasciata trifasciata) and Vietnamese Three-striped Box Turtles (Cuora cyclornata annamitica). These animals arrived from a private facility where they had resided since the early 1990s, a time when they were relatively common in the pet trade. These two species are identified as target species in the TSC’s collection plan and will add unrepresented bloodlines to the managed captive population. Other acquisitions in 2021 will include captive bred Bourret’s Box Turtles (Cuora bourreti), Vietnamese Three-striped Box Turtles (Cuora cyclornata annamitica), and Zhou’s Box Turtles (Cuora zhoui) imported from studbook-managed populations in Europe.

With a solid, well-functioning team, increased breeding success to fulfill captive population goals, facilities and enclosure expansions, and new programs in the works, the future looks bright for the TSC. The success of the TSC is a credit to the dedicated staff and all of the donors that take an interest in and support our efforts.

Contact: Cris Hagen, Turtle Survival Alliance, 1030 Jenkins Road, Suite D, Charleston, SC 29407, USA [chagen@turtlesurvival.org]

Chelonian Husbandry Internship 2021

by Clinton S. Doak, Cris Hagen, Carol Alvarez, Kelly Currier, and Rachael Harff

Five years ago, we had this crazy idea to start an intern program, because who wouldn’t want to learn more about turtles, right? Fast forward to 2021 and the program has come leaps and bounds from where it started. We have seen 15 individuals come through the program at the time of writing, and we couldn’t be prouder of the interns we have had over the last five years. Each one has helped shape the program into what it is now, and provided us with amazing feedback on what we could change. Although, none of their feedback or suggestions could prepare us for the 2020-2021 season.

It goes without saying that COVID-19 has made us all nervous to be around strangers, especially when you live in a remote place and only see the same five people day after day. So, when it came time to open our internship program, I had my reservations about bringing in new people. 2020

The TSC Intern experience includes cultivating turtle husbandry skills, exhibit design and construction, basic veterinary care techniques, participation in long-term field research, and a college-level syllabus.

gave us one of our largest intern application pools to date, likely due to many of them losing internships they had previously lined up. With more applications, and no vaccines, we were taking a risk to bring people into our isolated little family. We encouraged our interns to stay as quarantined as possible prior to their arrival.

The summer intern program went exceptionally well, although they didn’t get to do some of the things that past interns were able to experience. Joining the TSC internship with the North American Freshwater Turtle Research Group (NAFTRG) back in 2019 has been a fantastic way to provide hands on experience to our young interns. Unfortunately, this amazing collaboration was something that 2020’s group of interns missed out on. One advantage we did gain was having an intern during our fall session; this intern extended their internship twice, staying with us for six months. This proved especially helpful when we lost two staff members in the fall of 2020, which reminded us how important it is to train and educate younger generations.

As spring rolled around, and the vaccine became more available, we were hoping the summer of 2021 would see some form of normalcy. With things slowly getting back to normal, our intern program was able to operate at full capacity, and once again, experiences that 2020 interns missed out on were able to take place.

As we look forward to the future, and to the continued education of future conservationists who are committed to zero turtle extinctions, we sincerely thank all of our interns past, present, and future.

Contact: Clinton S. Doak, Turtle Survival Alliance, 1030 Jenkins Road, Suite D, Charleston, SC 29407, USA [cdoak@turtlesurvival.org]

Kelly Currier

2021 summer interns Lauren Otterness (left) and Lily Kirkpatrick (Right).

Hicatee Heroes

Ten years of partnership for the Hicatee conservation program

by Jacob A. Marlin

It’s early June as Hicatee Conservation and Research Center (HCRC) Manager Tom Pop walks up to me and says, “They’re coming.” I know what he means. The eggs are starting to hatch. After about six months incubating in the Belize Foundation for Research and Environmental Education (BFREE) lab, Central American River Turtles (Dermatemys mawii)—known in Belize as Hicatee—are finally pipping. I have conflicting emotions. The first is delight, joy that the 200 or so eggs we collected from the breeding ponds in late 2020 and early 2021 are hatching. Nothing is as exciting as when reptile eggs hatch, especially a Critically Endangered species like the Hicatee. But then dread sets in. I knew this was coming and we still aren’t ready.

Last year, for the first time, we released 184 hatchlings as part of a rewilding program. This included a growth experiment and an outreach event with local schoolchildren who participated in the release. Even so, all three of our ponds are stocked full of Hicatee—close to 400 turtles—and now the coming of another 200 hatchlings is upon us.

This is the seventh year we have had reproductive success at the HCRC at BFREE. With 83 clutches totaling more than 900 eggs deposited since 2014, we feel confident in our ability to provide the required environmental conditions for reliably producing captive bred turtles. Tom’s incredible observational skills and ability to read the needs of these turtles has been paramount to the success of this program. TSA President Rick Hudson was the force behind these efforts and, without his perseverance and support, there wouldn’t be a Belize turtle program. For a species listed in the top 25 most endangered tortoises and freshwater turtles in the world, the reproductive accomplishments here give all of us hope for their future survival. But, by itself, this action is not enough.

Key to their long-term survival is to have many self-sustaining, healthy populations of Hicatee living in protected areas throughout their limited range of northern Guatemala, southern Mexico, and Belize. To that end, a big milestone occurred this year. Cox Lagoon, a twomile-long freshwater site in central Belize known to historically contain Hicatee, and which is nestled within a larger 30,000-acre parcel, has been purchased for conservation as part of expanding the Central Belize Wildlife Corridor. TSA and BFREE have advocated for a Hicatee reserve since this program began in 2010, and both orga-

From top to bottom: Due to the global pandemic, the 2020 Hicatee Awareness Month Campaign was completely virtual. The campaign encouraged Hicatee Heroes everywhere to put on capes (and masks) to join the fight to save the Hicatee and was one of the most successful outreach efforts for the Hicatee to date; The first Hicatee Hatchling that was recaptured during the two-month long survey.

nizations were important actors in the acquisition, with TSA helping fund the purchase. This purchase provides a huge boost for the Hicatee’s survival in Belize, and has the opportunity to galvanize the efforts that TSA and BFREE began more than ten years ago. Well-known to herp enthusiasts because of the immense population of Morelet’s

Crocodiles (Crocodylus moreletii) that also inhabit this beautiful wildlife oasis, Cox Lagoon’s protection helps set the stage for conserving the Hicatee and its natural habitat in perpetuity.

In mid-July, TSA’s Andrew Walde, Wildlife Conservation Society’s (WCS) Brian Horne, Tom Pop, WCS-Belize staff, and I visit Cox Lagoon. It’s been twenty years since I last visited the area, and I am pleased to see signs of Hicatee on both ends of the lagoon. The lagoon empties into a series of creeks which, during high water events, feeds into the Belize River, the largest watershed in Belize. This is critically important habitat for Hicatee, making Cox Lagoon a potentially excellent site for rewilding and the dispersal of young captive-hatched Hicatee into the ecosystem. Here, Hicatee may finally find refuge and also act as a source population for the rewilding efforts.

The primary cause of the species’ decline has been overharvesting for human consumption, though habitat alteration and degradation continues to play a role. In Belize, it’s an engrained cultural practice to eat Hicatee during the Easter holiday as well as much of the year. It’s unlikely this practice will change in the near future, though few-

er youth are engaged in natural resource extraction than in past generations.

Changing people’s attitudes starts with one person at a time. As part of our efforts to educate the broader Belizean public and inspire the next generation to care about and want to preserve this iconic part of the Belizean cultural heritage, we have developed the BFREE Science and Education Fellowship program. This competitive program offers a two-year work-training position to talented young Belizeans with an associate’s degree and a strong interest in conservation. The Wildlife Fellow position is based at the HCRC and focuses on developing the skills and knowledge to become experts on Hicatee, both here at the research center with our captive breeding efforts, and in the wild learning field techniques to study population dynamics and ecology.

Two outstanding individuals have participated as Wildlife Fellows thus far: Jaren Serano (Fellow 2017-19) and Jonathan Dubon (Fellow 2020-22). Upon completing the program, Jaren immediately went on to pursue his Bachelor of Science degree at Jacksonville University and is now entering his graduate studies at University of Flori-

da. At just 20 years old, Jonathan is in the second year of his program and has already shown impressive initiative and talent. Fellows participate in all aspects of the program including outreach, field research, facilities maintenance, reporting, and the development of publications and scientific presentations.

Last October, we celebrated the fourth annual Hicatee Awareness Month, continuing to raise the Hicatee’s profile to the public and setting the stage for national pride of this rare and unique species. Through this campaign, we create educational packets filled with useful resources for the public targeting local Belize schools. This past year was one of our most successful campaigns to date. With a newly formed Hicatee Awareness Month Planning Committee and a new “Mr. Hicatee” logo, we encouraged turtle lovers everywhere to put on red capes and transform into Hicatee Heroes. Jonathan participated as a founding member of the committee and produced and co-created a very catchy rap/jingle, called “Mr. Hicatee,” which took social media outlets by storm. The campaign has reached over 500 local schools and thousands of Belizean students, inspiring the next generation.

From left to right: One-hundred sixty-five Hicatees hatched at the Hicatee Conservation and Research Center in 2021; HCRC Manager Thomas Pop has been involved with research and conservation of the species since the country-wide survey took place in 2011.

This summer, Jonathan is spending time in the field with graduate researchers based out of the Belize Turtle Ecology Lab. Overseen by Day Ligon and Denise Thompson, Jonathan, Wesley Smith, and others conducted the first closely monitored release of captive born hatchling Hicatee in the wild. Equipped with radio transmitters, 25 one-month-old turtles were released in a lagoon in northern Belize and monitored almost daily for 2.5 months. This is the first attempt to get an accurate portrayal of the behavior and habits of this rare and cryptic species. Results will help inform our future rewilding efforts to choose the most appropriate release sites and habitat.

The captive breeding efforts, headstarting, and rewilding of Hicatee are just one piece of a larger conservation strategy for the species. All are critical to the greater recovery process. After ten years, BFREE, TSA, and all our partners are now well-positioned to take this program to the next level. A recovery planning process is underway, and I couldn’t feel more pride and gratitude for the support and involvement of so many dedicated individuals. Knowing the program is now positioned to undertake meaningful rewilding efforts, and conservation measures are well underway, the dread of so many turtles at the HCRC has turned into delight! With multiple international and local partners, there is truly hope for the recovery of the Hicatee.

Acknowledgments: We thank Turtle Survival Alliance, Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens, Zoo New England, Bill Dennler, Tim Gregory, Alan and Patricia Koval Foundation, David Hutchinson, Turtle Conservation Fund, Re:Wild, Santa Fe College Teaching Zoo, Mohammed bin Zayed Foundation, Belize Turtle Ecology Lab, Mazuri Exotic Animal Nutrition, Belize Wildlife and Referral Clinic, Government of Belize, and Belize Fisheries Department for their generous support

Contact: Jacob A. Marlin, Belize Foundation for Research and Environmental Education (BFREE), 2602 NW 6th Street, Suite D, Gainesville, FL 32609 [jmarlin@bfreebz.org]

Turtle Surveys in Belize

Establishing a long-term turtle monitoring program in southern Belize

by Eric Munscher, J. Brian Hauge, Andy Weber, and Andrew Walde

After COVID-19 concerns cancelled their 2020 trip, the Turtle Survival Alliance – North American Freshwater Turtle Research Group (TSA-NAFTRG) finally made it to Belize. In July 2021, a five-person team including Eric Munscher, Arron Tuggle, Andy Weber, Collin McAvinchey, and J. Brian Hauge worked with BFREE staff to begin a long-term mark-recapture study of turtles on the BFREE property. Other TSA business brought Andrew Walde and Brian Horne to BFREE for much of the sample. Their expertise and advice was very helpful.

The purpose of the trip was to supply BFREE with traps and gear, to demonstrate TSA-NAFTRG methods, and to locate permanent sampling sites to initiate a 10-year population research project focusing on all freshwater turtle species found within the property boundary. The real stars of the trip were the BFREE turtle team of Tom Pop, Jonathan Dubon, and Jaren Serano. Their extensive work with Hicatees at the Hicatee Conservation Research Center (HCRC) prepared them well for learning the new trapping and processing methods. A tour of the property by BFREE Director Jacob Marlin revealed several potential trap sites. Surveys included snorkeling the Bladen River, trapping perennial pools and creeks with a variety of trap types and baits, and searching ephemeral puddles in trails after heavy rainfall. In eight days of sampling, 227 turtles of six species were captured. Species included Meso-American Slider (Trachemys venusta), White-lipped Mud Turtle (Kinosternon leucostomum), Tabasco Mud Turtle (K. acutum), Scorpion

Mud Turtle (K. scorpioides), Mexican Giant Musk Turtle (Staurotypus triporcatus), Central American Snapping Turtle (Chelydra rossignonii), and the Furrowed Wood Turtle (Rhinoclemmys areolata). The only species we anticipated finding but did not was the Narrow-bridged Musk Turtle (Claudius angustatus), whose presence within the BFREE property has been verified by Jacob Marlin.

On the final day of the trip, BFREE Rangers took the team on a cross country hike through the property to locate less accessible sites that will be targeted during future trips. The groundwork has been set for future sampling by visiting groups from colleges and universities or local students. Tom Pop will serve as the on-sight project coordinator. We look forward to organizing future sampling trips and inviting TSA members to participate.

Acknowledgments: We thank the Belize Fisheries Department for permitting this work. This trip was funded in part by SWCA Environmental Consultants. Generous donations by Marrelyce C. Seaman, Tim Gregory, and Freed-Hardeman University provided funds to purchase gear and assist with travel costs. Jacob Marlin, Heather Barrett, and the BFREE Team were amazing hosts for this trip.

Contact: Eric Munscher, TSA – NAFTRG [emunscher@swca.com]

Eric Munscher

From left to right: This year, after two years of planning and COVID-19 delays, the TSA-NAFTRG / BFREE study began in July; The Mexican Giant Musk Turtle is a focal species of study on BFREE’s reserve and biological field station.

Urban Bayou Kaijus

Alligator Snapping Turtles of the Mother Bayou

by Eric Munscher, Jordan Gray, Arron Tuggle, and Aaron Dugas

For the past five years, Turtle Survival Alliance’s North American Freshwater Turtle Research Group (TSA-NAFTRG) has been studying an unexpected phenomenon: a viable—possibly prolific—population of the Alligator Snapping Turtle (Macrochelys temminckii) in the Mother Bayou of Houston, Texas. The Mother Bayou, or Buffalo Bayou as it is now mostly known, is a 52 km “old river” channel that bisects a major part of downtown Houston. This bayou has a long and storied history, once described by Nicholas Clopper, a frontiersman in 1827, as “a most enchanting little stream.” Today, the bayou is surrounded by urban sprawl, with titanic skyscrapers rising from its banks in downtown Houston and surrounded on either bank by mansions and gated communities. Yet, still there are many stretches of Buffalo Bayou which remain quality riparian habitat for many species of birds, mammals, fish, and yes, turtles, especially the iconic giant Alligator Snapping Turtle.

On April 28th, 2021, the NAFTRG team set traps at a new trap site along Buffalo Bayou. This site is farther west than most of the previous trap sites and helped bridge a significant gap in our survey area. Typical to most areas west of downtown Houston, this stretch of the bayou is surrounded by residential developments. Harris County Flood Control had recently installed a boat ramp for flood cleanup. As we walked down to the bayou, we could tell that this area was excellent habitat. From the thick and vibrant riparian zone, to the cut banks with extensive root masses and fallen logs, to the number of fish (most likely alligator gar surfacing for air)—this new site checked all the boxes. We were thrilled as we were close to our milestone of 100 marked animals in Buffalo Bayou.

We set three large hoop net traps, two on the left side of the boat launch and one on the right. We bait our traps with large pieces of cut catfish and return to check them the next morning. As we approached the traps that morning, the air and water temperatures differed just enough to provide a light mist over the water’s surface. We got to the first trap and noticed that the bait was gone and the trap was empty. This happens often, as many other species of animals are drawn to fresh bait. We rebaited the trap and moved on to the second trap on the left side of the ramp. We could tell something big was inside as the trap was moving violent-

ly. We pulled up the trap and were greeted with an enormous Alligator Snapping Turtle head. It took all three of us to haul the trap on the bank and remove the turtle. We all looked at each other and knew we had something special. This new turtle was our 99th marked animal and measured to be the second largest turtle we’ve trapped so far in this 5-year study. It was serendipitous that he was the 99th captured turtle, as the beloved NFL star JJ Watt wore #99 for the 10 years he played for the Houston Texans. This capture would be featured on local and national news and even make it to Mr. J.J. Watt himself, who responded with “You got this big guy. Hot Turtle Summer on deck.” After processing this huge male, the third trap we checked had a 33 lb female that would become our 100th individual capture.

Why is the 100th marked animal so important? Very few studies have investigated a single system long enough to reach that milestone. Most research on Alligator Snapping Turtles is on a rivershed or statewide assessment level. To capture 100 animals in one system demonstrates that the system’s population is robust and viable and a population worth monitoring and conserving. The following day we captured another six snapping turtles, one of which was another large male at 128 pounds. As of the writing of this article we have 110 marked animals in Buffalo Bayou with another 5 years of research planned. It is our hope that we will be the first population study to reach 200 marked animals in a single system.

Acknowledgements: We thank TC Energy, SWCA Environmental Consultants, Hess Corporation, Shellye Arnold, Memorial Park Conservancy, and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

Turtle #99 was a hulking 131 lb. male, affectionately named J.J. Watt in honor of the former Houston Texans’ defensive end.

The “Bog” Picture

A new method for finding Bog

Turtles

by Mike Knoerr and JJ Apodaca

It’s a sunny May morning. Four biologists step into a shallowly inundated 3-acre mountain bog. This site has a Bog Turtle (Glyptemys muhlenbergii) record from 1996. Our crew only has a few weeks to determine whether turtles are still present at this site and four other wetlands. Unfortunately, the techniques we use to find Bog Turtles are extremely labor intensive and moderately effective at best: our eyes and hands, a wooden dowel, and non-baited traps. I poke my broomstick under a willow for what feels like the 10,000th time hoping to feel that telltale thud of wood against shell. No thud. No turtles. After

a few weeks of laborious daily trap checks, we find one male Bog Turtle and recapture him three times. That turtle is one of eight found across all sites; three of those sites had no encounters at all. While the team is left feeling satisfied with our efforts and the valuable data collected, we cannot help but wish we could have covered more ground and evaluated more wetlands.

To conserve Bog Turtles, we need to figure out where they are and how many are left at each site. We need technologies that allow us to scale up and assess more sites rapidly. We are currently finishing an experiment that is evaluating

Mike Knoerr

From

be

document-

the effectiveness of camera traps at detecting Bog Turtles. This work has taken place in 11 occupied North Carolina sites that represent the spectrum of Bog Turtle abundance and density. The results have been astounding. We have images of turtles from each of the 11 wetlands and have identified 216 individual turtles across all sites using this technology. We have over 500 camera trap events documented for these 216 turtles. These data allow us to infer or even estimate abundance and age-structure, which is vital information when developing species-level conservation plans. These cameras also identify high-use areas and activity periods, which tells us where and when to survey if we need turtles in-hand.

It’s clear that this technique works and can greatly expand our understanding of Bog Turtle distribution, status, and natural history. With the lessons learned this year, we plan to install these cameras in wetlands of unknown occupancy in 2022. We believe that this new technology will allow us to systematically and consistently evaluate all historical Bog Turtle sites in North Carolina in just a few short years.

Acknowledgments: This work received generous financial support from the Bern Tryon Southern Bog Turtle Fund (TSA/Zoo Knoxville), equipment from the United States Fish & Wildlife Service, and technical support from the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission.

Contact: Mike Knoerr, Tangled Bank Conservation, 56 Clayton St. Asheville, NC 28801 [mknoerr@vt.edu]

left to right: Camera traps appear to

very effective at

ing young Bog Turtles, as is the case with this 8-month-old turtle recorded with a passive camera trap in western North Carolina on May 4, 2021; An 8-month-old Bog Turtle in western North Carolina, USA.

Strategy for Sustainability

Community programs gain momentum

by Germán Forero-Medina and Igor Valencia

With the goal of protecting wild populations while they can still be recovered, in contrast to many of our Asian programs that maintain robust captive populations out of necessity, the joint TSA/Wildlife Conservation Society program has made substantial progress this year despite the pandemic.

Sustainable use as a means for conservation

Since Europeans reached South America, the Giant South American River Turtle (Podocnemis expansa) has declined precipitously due to overhunting, which continues to this day. Ranked Critically Endangered due to their rate of decline, the species requires increased protection if healthy populations are to persist. Dams now threaten to flood historic nesting beaches that are important for their survival. Fortunately, some large nesting aggregations still exist in Brazil and along the Bolivian border.

In Colombia, the most important nesting site is in the middle Meta River, in the Orinoquía region, where the community of La Virgen protects a population of over 2,000 females that come to lay their eggs there. This project is based on community agreements that protect the most important nesting beaches and establish zones banning the extraction

From left to right: A sign at the entrance of the Cotoca Arriba community along the Sinú River depicts the ecotourism route, project sites, and information on the Magdalena River Turtle; A large aggregate of female Giant South American River Turtles, or “cambote de charapas,” bask along a protected beach of the middle Meta River at La Virgen, Arauca.

of turtles and their eggs. Each year, the community gathers to renew the agreements, set rules for beach protection, and select surveillance teams. These teams patrol the beaches 24 hours a day during the entire nesting season (January–May) to deter potential poachers and egg collectors. Turtle hunting is now very limited along this stretch of river, and egg harvesting has been substantially reduced. As a metric of successs, we have recorded an average nest harvest of only 3% on protected beaches, as opposed to 43% for those lacking protection.

Conservation of a species that has traditionally been used

as a food source must consider how to adjust local use to ensure sustainability. Recognizing the community’s desire to use the species they are helping to preserve, we explored potential alternatives for harvesting the species. Due to the relatively small population and the importance of reproductive females for population survival, consumption of adult females was not an option; however, varying levels of egg harvest were evaluated using population models to assess the effect on population viability and extinction risk. These models indicated that small levels of egg harvest will not have an impact on population survival over the long term.

Discussions with the community established protocols for the harvest of 30 nests, while continuing to avoid adult turtle consumption.

Sustainable harvest by the local community of the predetermined number of nests began in 2021. Collected eggs are for local consumption only; commercial use is prohibited. The team that is in charge of beach surveillance rigorously monitors the nests and oversees select nest distribution to assigned families. The pilot harvest was a success, and the community is now additionally motivated because they can both protect and utilize the traditional resource, strength-

ening their commitment to the project. This pilot is part of a series of interventions designed to improve livelihoods in the area, reduce turtle consumption, and promote sustainable use of resources as a means for their conservation.

“La Carranchina” Natural Reserve: improving habitat for Dahl´s Toad-Headed Turtle

The La Carranchina Natural Reserve, the first protected area for the endemic and critically endangered Dahl’s Toad-headed Turtle (Mesoclemmys dahli), is rapidly becoming a safe haven for the species. The majority of this species’ dry forest habitat has been cleared for cattle grazing; streams have dried up and turtle populations are now

fragmented. Few areas of optimal forest habitat remain, so when this 120-hectare property became available in 2019, we aquired it through a partnership with Rainforest Trust. This year, we started the complex process of securing permits to initiate a genetic rescue program and move turtles from isolated, bottlenecked populations into the reserve. While we prepare for this important event, we’ve made significant progress toward restoring native vegetation to improve habitat quality for the resident turtle population and future translocated animals.

With steady support from a local team, Reserve ranger Donys Manchego, and restoration specialist Selene Torres, we continue to develop our plant nursery. With a holding

Tortugas del Sinú members Rodrigo Negrete, Mauricio Negrete, Diana Hernandez, and Yuli Negrete release a cohort of the more than 2,000 Magdalena River Turtles hatched in 2020. This year, the team released nearly 2,000 more.

tinue until we achieve our restoration goals, and includes the expansion of wetlands to increase available aquatic habitat for Dahl’s Toad-headed Turtle. Hopefully soon we will translocate the first individuals as part of our genetic rescue program, with the goal of reducing inbreeding (well documented in this species) and improving genetic diversity. This long-term program, the first of its kind in Colombia, should provide a strong scientific basis for other genetic rescue programs for freshwater turtles.

Launching an education center for the Magdalena River Turtle

The Magdalena River Turtle (Podocnemis lewyana) is endemic to Colombia where it is restricted to two rivers in the northwest, the Magdalena and the Sinú. It is Critically Endangered due primarily to overhunting and loss of nesting habitat. Two community-based conservation groups on the Sinú are committed to saving this turtle. In the community of Cotoca Arriba, a group known as Tortugas del Sinú protects nests from flooding when the hydroelectric dam releases water. This program is exceptionally well-organized, with teams designated for egg collection, incubation, monitoring, and juvenile rearing, resulting in hatching and releasing thousands of turtles annually. The enthusiasm with which the people of Cotoca Arriba embrace their duties is inspiring and provides hope for this species’ preservation.

capacity of 10,000 plants, there are now almost 7,000 tree saplings, as well as other plant species, grown from seeds harvested from nearby forests by a group of women who are leading the restoration activities. These plants are being used to restore vegetation in degraded areas, improve forest quality, and enrich the area with plants useful to other species, such as the Red-footed Tortoise (Chelonoidis carbonarius), that also inhabit the Reserve.

This year we planted over 1,000 native plants, all of them produced in the on-site nursery. To safeguard our efforts and protect the forest and recently planted trees, we build firebreaks prior to the annual dry season to prevent fire spread from neighboring properties. This process will con-

To support the community’s efforts, in 2019 we commenced a revitalization and expansion of the ecotourism program launched in 2014. Then COVID-19 hit and with it came setbacks. Tourism was greatly reduced and schools began operating virtually, so we hosted very few visitors. As the situation improves though, with people traveling again and schools returning to class, tourism is ready to rebound. To that end, this year we completed the building of an education center and a tour route guiding visitors through the community, presenting key aspects of the program’s history, the river, and their role in protecting the Magdelana River Turtle. The center features high-quality interpretive graphics that will allow visitors and school children to learn about the species, inspiring them to take action. Hopefully, too, it will attract tourists, providing much-needed income while sustaining community incentive.

Acknowledgments: We recognize and express our gratitude to the following supporters and collaborators for their generosity: Wildlife Conservation Society, Gregory Family Charitable Fund, Fundación Santo Domingo, Ecopetrol, Fondo Acción, Fondation Segre, Disney Conservation Fund, Rainforest Trust, Arcadia, Econbiba, and Fundación Omacha.

Contact: Germán Forero-Medina and Igor Valencia, Turtle Survival Alliance, Wildlife Conservation Society, Cali, Colombia [gforero@ wcs.org; ivalencia@wcs.org]

Historic Reintroduction of Radiated Tortoises

Intense challenges accompany a year of firsts for TSA Madagascar

by Rick Hudson, Ny Aina Tiana Rakotoarisoa, and Herilala Randriamahazo

In a year full of peaks and valleys, 2021 started off with a bang as we witnessed our first captive hatching of Ploughshare Tortoises (Astrochelys yniphora). Then in July, we conducted the first ever large-scale reintroduction of Radiated Tortoises (Astrochelys radiata) to the wild, an historic occasion that hopefully signals the beginning of a long and successful road to recovery. Sadly, that good news was accompanied by several tragic tortoise confiscations, one that brought to light gaps in the enforcement chain that resulted in some changes that bode well for the future. All of these activities in Madagascar take place amidst the epic drought in the south that is causing widespread famine, starvation, and untold human suffering, reminding us of the tragic consequences of rapid climate change.

Tortoise confiscations down, then up again and a paradigm shift in enforcement

Though the number of confiscations was down to 17 in 2020 (579 tortoises of six species), it grew again in 2021 with five seizures of 1,040 Radiated Tortoises by July. The string of confiscations began ominously in February, when TSA Madagascar staff assisted in the seizure of 811 juvenile tortoises from the village of Benonoke where they had been kept for months. Held without food and water, they were severely dehydrated and in need of intensive care. In a turn of good fortune, TSA veterinarian Ny Aina Tiana Rakotoarisoa was already in the south, and was able to provide critical care quickly, else mortality would have been much higher. This seizure was possible because of the work of TSA Enforcement Coordinator, Sylvain Mahazotahy, who acted

From left to right: In February 2021, 811 juvenile Radiated Tortoises were confiscated from a village where they had been held for many months without food or water, a situation made worse because of an extreme heat wave. Due to rapid response and generous international support, TSA’s Tortoise Conservation Center was able to save most of them; A rescued Radiated Tortoise at TSA’s Tortoise Conservation Center eagerly munching on fresh green vegetation in July, months after the drought finally broke in February.

Sylvain Mahazotahy; Rajo Adolphe

Landry Andrianiaina

on leads from his informant network.

This seizure took place very close to the Cap Sainte Marie Special Reserve, formerly the most abundant and important population of Radiated Tortoises in Madagascar, and it is likely that poachers collected them from that protected population. Thanks to a strong international response to TSA’s funding appeal—which included a film from our supporter Animal Survival International—we were able to respond quickly.

A highly unusual tortoise trafficking event in April shook the local enforcement community and will likely have far-reaching implications for tortoise protection. A tip from an informant in the village of Soamanitse, a notoriously persistent tortoise poaching hotspot, alerted TSA staff to a truck leaving the village with tortoises, heading for Beloha. It is known that the Gendarmes (national armed police) there are corrupt, so TSA alerted the regional authorities in Ambovombe to question the Beloha authorities. When the truck arrived, authorities removed its sisal contents but no tortoises were found. We discovered that the Beloha Gendarme chief had ordered the tortoises be dumped from the truck onto the side of the road prior to its arrival, then lied to his superior, reporting that no tortoises were found. TSA Madagascar’s informants fortunately were able to locate the eight bags of dumped tortoises—193 in total—which se -

cured the evidence to prove the crime.

Previously, the Regional Director of Environment and Sustainable Development (DREED) had launched a Zero Tolerance campaign in the south, and the judge was severe on the offenders. All seven suspects, including the Chief Gendarme of Beloha Brigade, were sentenced to a year in jail. Previously, no one could have imagined that a Gendarme chief would be jailed for covering up tortoise trafficking.

If there is a silver lining to this story, it is this: after years of mistrust between community leaders and law officers, the Gendarmes now recognize the dedicated efforts of the volunteer informants who cooperate with the TSA, the important contributions they make in aiding enforcement, and the benefits of intelligence sharing. TSA Madagascar is proudly bridging that gap and, since April, a positive message is spreading about the serious battle against tortoise trafficking in the Androy region. This has led to several official Gendarme training opportunities focused on tortoise security that engage village representatives. We are optimistic that this attitude shift will persist. TSA Madagascar extends special recognition to two very dedicated volunteer informants, Tirindraza and Retsihejy, who risk much in their efforts to protect tortoises. TSA has provided them with bicycles and motorbikes to enable their pursuits.

Anjaramamitiana

Carrela Rasolondraibe

An historic reintroduction of Radiated Tortoises

Thanks to improvements in enforcement capacity and detection, TSA has been overwhelmed with tortoise confiscations, beginning with a surge in 2015 and reaching a catastrophic peak in 2018, when more than 17,000 Radiated Tortoises were seized in two stockpiles and placed in our care. In total, the TSA manages close to 26,000 tortoises (7 taxa) concentrated largely at our two major Centers, the Tortoise Conservation Center (TCC) and the Lavavolo Tortoise Center (LTC). These Centers are critical to the success of our comprehensive Confiscation to Reintroduction Strategy but are costly to operate. Together these Centers employ over 40 staff and consume 3,000 kg of tortoise food per week. Getting tortoises back out on the landscape is imperative, and we initiated that process in February 2020, performing health screening evaluations and selecting 1,000 Radiated Tortoises for repatriation to the wild. Then the pandemic began and travel restrictions brought activities to a halt. However, by late 2020, the TSA community outreach team, with staff from Madagascar’s forestry department, was able to resume work at two communities chosen from nine sites previously evaluated (see 2019 edition of Turtle Survival)—mapping and defining the boundaries of the community-managed forest, training villagers on forest management and tortoise population monitoring, and preparing

Clockwise from top left: This tortoise shade structure at the Lavovolo Tortoise Center is one of hundreds built in response to the past year’s drought and sweltering heat; Staff of TSA’s Tortoise Conservation Center gently load tortoises for transport to the reintroduction site. An historic event, 1,000 Radiated Tortoises were released to the wild in July, the first large scale reintroduction of this species to date; Southern Madagascar has been in the midst of a severe and prolonged drought and rains were delayed this year by three months. When rain came in February 2021, this hatchling Southern Spider Tortoise emerged from the ground at TSA’s Tortoise Conservation Center.

From left to right: In December 2020, TSA recorded its first-ever captive breeding of Ploughshare Tortoises and others followed in early 2021. This represents a milestone in the captive management of this rare and highly endangered tortoise, as this is the first hatching in Madagascar—that we are aware of—that is this far outside of their natural range; Radiated Tortoises moving off into natural spiny forest habitat following release into a community protected area. A six-hectare soft release enclosure surrounding good quality forest will support these tortoises for the next six months.

the villagers for the responsibilities of stewarding a population of tortoises.

Ultimately, the local villagers are responsible for securing 984 hectares of quality forest and protecting the tortoises. By May 2021, we determined that only one site was ready to receive tortoises. We obtained fencing materials and trained villagers to build enclosures, completing a 6-hectare soft-release enclosure by July. On July 26, 2021, the long-awaited first large-scale reintroduction of Radiated Tortoises finally was underway. The TSA team loaded 1,000 tortoises onto trucks, accompanied by a local community ceremony witnessing the first departure of animals from the TCC. At the release site, ceremonies continued with a traditional zebu festival, with both regional and local authorities in attendance for the historic occasion on July 27. The tortoises will remain in the soft-release pen for six months to acclimate to natural food and conditions, thereby developing a sense of fidelity to this habitat where they should remain in proximity nearby. Before we open the enclosure, our goal is to attach GPS trackers and radio transmitters to a subset of the tortoises to track their movements and survival. Brett Bartek, an experienced field biologist and TSA affiliate, will oversee

this process and train locals for this important aspect of monitoring.

Ploughshare Tortoise

In 2017, TSA received government recognition as an official breeding center for the Ploughshare Tortoise, or Angonoka, and began receiving confiscated animals; eighteen juveniles are now managed at an ultra-secure facility in the south. We were stunned during the COVID lockdown to receive eight adult Ploughshare Tortoises (1 male, 7 females) seized by the gendarmes. In June 2020, just one month after her arrival at our headquarters in Antananarivo, a female laid her first clutch of six eggs, followed by a second clutch of eggs in July. The first hatched in December, after 159 days of incubation, an historic first for the TSA and the first hatching of this species in Antananarivo (Tana) that we are aware of. We are currently raising three hatchlings. This female continues to lay eggs (18 in 4 clutches in one season); however, the eggs are abnormally large (compared to published data from another breeding group) and are cracking during oviposition, leading to high egg mortality. We will continue to explore possible causes for this strange occurrence. On a high note, we have received donor support

Ny Aina

Tiana Rakotoarisoa;

Riana Rakotondrainy; Rajo Adolphe

Landry

Andrianiaina

to greatly expand our Ploughshare facility in the south to accommodate adults and future growth.

Prolonged drought impacts people and wildlife

Southern Madagascar is suffering its worst drought in forty years, now in its fourth year. Famine and food insecurity threaten the lives of thousands of Malagasy people—global food organizations rank this crisis in the catastrophe category, the highest threat level. Epic heat waves, combined with winter rains that were delayed till February 2021 (2-3 months late), caused vegetation and livestock to perish; many trees simply dropped their leaves. Amid this devastating crisis, staff at our tortoise centers faced daily challenges to provide food and shade for tortoises in their care.

At the LTC mortality was initially high; we lost 233 tortoises in the first quarter of 2021. To combat the heat animal care staff built 275 shade structures from local materials while waiting for tarps to arrive from Tana. We deployed a full-time veterinarian and reduced mortality 90% over two months. To mitigate the food shortage, we trained four keepers in agricultural techniques adapted for climate change and prepared an 800 m2 garden, which produced 400 kg of food by June. Ultimately, our goal is to grow 14,000 kg of tortoise food annually, representing 10% of what is necessary to feed tortoises for one year.

LTC staff are also training tortoise food providers from local villages to grow vegetables in compliance with the techniques they learned; this will not only benefit the LTC long-term but village farmers as well. We enabled these gardening activities by deepening the existing well and installing new solar panels and batteries that improved water pumping capacity to an elevated water tower. We are also making improvements to 700 linear meters of perimeter fencing, increasing its height to prevent intrusion from both wild dogs and humans. The TSA is deeply grateful to our German funding partner Aktionsgemeinschaft

Artenschutz (AGA), who have been incredibly generous in helping us through the various crises we have faced in recent years. We have also been fortunate in building a strong partnership with USAID in Madagascar who have helped us ensure the survival of these Centers during the COVID pandemic.

Acknowledgments: This work would not be possible without the generous support of many donors: Will Ahrens, Aktionsgemeinschaft Artenschutz (AGA) e.V, Animal Survival International, Association of Zoos & Aquariums SAFE Program, William Dennler, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Dutch Turtle & Tortoise Society, Gregory Family Charitable Fund, Honolulu Zoo, Robert & Denise Krause, Milwaukee County Zoo, James Moore, Natures Spirit Incubators, Oklahoma City Zoo, Parken Zoo, Matt Patterson/Stoneridge Art Studios, Bonnie Raphael, Seneca Park Zoo, Toronto Zoo, United States Agency for International Development, US Department of Interior/ International Technical Assistance Program, Utah’s Hogle Zoo, Zoo Atlanta, Zoo Knoxville, and Zoo Med Laboratories.

Zoo Med to the Rescue

For the second straight year our friends at Zoo Med Laboratories have generously contributed a large donation of their Grassland Tortoise Food. This year, their shipment was even more critical because our primary centers in the south, Lavavolo Tortoise Center and Tortoise Conservation Center, were experiencing prolonged drought conditions combined with devastating heat, making it difficult to find vegetation. Often, prickly-pear (Opuntia) cactus was the sole source of tortoise food, so our ability to supplement with Zoo Med chow was especially important to recently confiscated and debilitated tortoises. Reports coming from the Centers indicate that the Zoo Med food was a “game changer” for such tortoises and helped put many of them on the road to recovery. TSA again extends our deepest gratitude for Zoo Med Lab’s continued and critical support.

New Hope for Africa’s Rarest Turtle

Saving the last Nubian Flapshell Turtles

by Luca Luiselli

The Nubian Flapshell Turtle (Cyclanorbis elegans) is the largest softshell turtle in Africa (over 80 cm carapace length) and is a highly aquatic species historically occurring in large rivers from the Mole River in northern Ghana to the Sobat River of South Sudan, Africa. Information on its ecology and natural history is scant, and the flesh and cartilaginous portions of the shell are known to be consumed in Ghana and South Sudan; however, the species is likely hunted for food throughout its range. With fewer than 10 individuals observed in the wild in recent times, and with no surviving individuals in captivity, this turtle is ranked Critically Endangered (CR) by the IUCN Red List, and is one of the most

threatened chelonian species in the world.

Additionally, since searches along its entire historical range in West and Central Africa from 1996–2016 had “come up empty,” concern grew that the species may have “slipped through our fingers” and quietly gone extinct.

However, quite fortuitously, my collaborators, Gift S. Demaya and John S. Benansio at the University of Juba and I discovered a huge female in August 2017 while working along the White Nile in South Sudan. Since then we recorded a total of 22 individuals, providing fresh hope for the species’ survival. Our research discovered that they deposit their eggs each year on the same small beaches, making the killing of reproductive females and their eggs very easy and reliable for local people. The fishers in the local communities reported that the species is extremely rare, and therefore highly prized by Chinese expatriates. We also recently documented that Chinese expats buy these turtles at very high prices, considering it a delicacy. Due to the highly imperilled status and the small remnant range of this species, it is crucial to continue our research in this region of South Sudan to identify any remaining specimens or populations, protect communal nesting sites, and identify new populations by exploring additional territories further to the south.

To help sustain this important project—likely the last hope for their survival—I have joined forces with the Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA) to carry out a three-year field project that should establish the groundwork for a longterm conservation strategy for this species in South Sudan. In collaboration with Turtle Survival Alliance, our goals are to:

1. Define the known potential distribution of this species in South Sudan

2. Provide effective protection at the three currently known nesting sites used communally by female turtles

3. Conduct awareness campaigns with local communities and government agencies to enhance local protection for this species

4. Enhance public and institutional awareness of the species’ status, both in South Sudan and elsewhere, by organizing a technical workshop with international specialists to heighten the profile of the project and provide consultancy

5. Create a protected, wild sanctuary for the survival of the species

6. Develop an in-situ conservation centre for headstarting and reintroducing juvenile turtles

Contact: Luca Luiselli, Institute for Development, Ecology, Conservation and Cooperation, via G. Tomasi di Lampedusa 33, 00144 Rome, Italy [l.luiselli@ideccngo.org; lucamaria.luiselli@uniroma3.it]

Luca Luiselli

The Nubian Flapshell Turtle is Africa’s rarest freshwater turtle species. In 2021, Turtle Survival Alliance began supporting a project to preserve them in the White Nile River of South Sudan.

THE KINIXYS COOPERATIVE

Saving the Forgotten Tortoises of Africa

by Jeremy Thompson

The Kinixys Cooperative (TKC) began as an effort to better understand hinge-back tortoises, genus Kinixys, while there is still time. Historically, when it comes to turtles and tortoises, our push as a community has been to focus resources on the most endangered species facing extinction, and rightfully so. In doing so, we have failed to identify some of the more obscure taxa that also need attention. When I set out to select a group of turtles to make my life’s work, I chose to look past those with ample support from organizations like the Turtle Survival Alliance. That meant most Asian and Malagasy

species were off my list. These chelonians have fantastic support from the private sector, zoological community, and from turtle and tortoise conservation organizations. I wanted to focus on a genus that I felt could be “the next Pyxis” or “the next Cuora”. By this, I mean that I was looking for a genus headed down a similar rocky road.

Spider Tortoises and Asian box turtles face major threats in their native ranges, and can be difficult to breed in significant numbers in captivity, making them ideal targets for preservation and conservation efforts. Hinge-back tortoises will follow the footsteps of these shelled titans if no action

Jeremy Thompson

is taken. They are facing numerous threats in the wild that, if not addressed soon, could result in their extinction. This realization solidified my decision to work with hinge-backs, and The Kinixys Cooperative (TKC) was born. TKC exists to preserve Kinixys in captivity through captive breeding efforts and collaboration, conserve them in their native ranges through supporting sound scientific research, and educate others about the forgotten tortoises of Africa.

My journey started back in January 2017 when I contacted well-known Kinixys expert David Mifsud to discuss where I should begin. I knew I wanted to work with captive specimens, and he was one of the private keepers offering true U.S. captive-born offspring. Since adding my first specimens from David and other notable breeders, I have pulled together breeding groups of Forest (K. erosa), Home’s (K. homeana), Bell’s (K. nogueyi), Speke’s (K. spekii) and Southeastern (K. z. zombensis) hinge-back tortoises.

In 2020, my wife Marissa and I began the process of building a dedicated captive breeding facility that TKC would call home. We spent months perfecting what would become a state-of-the-art preservation facility dedicated to the genus. On October 31, 2020, we moved tortoises into the new TKC

Clockwise from left: This Bell’s Hinge-back Tortoise was produced by Will Ahrens and raised at TKC. “Wild type” growth can be achieved when proper husbandry is provided. This female will be paired up for the first time in 2022; 31 October 2020, aka “moving day.” The new TKC facility is officially open!; This Speke’s Hinge-back Tortoise was the first of five to hatch from a clutch of six eggs. It represents a new captive bloodline in the US.

headquarters, and it has performed flawlessly for the collection thus far. Considering we moved at the start of breeding season I did not anticipate 2021 to be a great year for captive propagation. Although some of the adult hinge-backs did not breed after being disrupted by the move, the new facility still welcomed more than 25 hatchlings this season.

As of this writing, The Kinixys Cooperative has hatched 59 hinge-back tortoises since its first in June 2018: 21 Forest, 11 Home’s, 7 Bell’s, 19 Speke’s, and 1 Southeastern. I am excited to have my adults settled in the new facility for the upcoming November-April breeding season. I hope to help crack the code for hatching Southeastern Hinge-back, and produce them with more regularity. My only hatchling of this species to date took 223 days to incubate, hatching on September 16, 2019. Forest and Speke’s hinge-back tortoise fertility rates are increasing each year, and both species can be prolific in captivity with proper care. I increased my breeding colony of Home’s Hinge-back from two males and two females to three males and five females in hopes of producing them in greater numbers going forward. I hatched my first Bell’s Hinge-back in 2020, followed by continued success this year. I currently have five viable eggs incubating from two new Bell’s Hinge-back bloodlines that I am eagerly awaiting. I hope to hatch out at least ten more hinge-backs before the end of 2021, and look forward to greater success in 2022.

My goal over the next year is to hatch out new bloodlines of each of the five species that I am currently breeding. I would also love to hatch a few more Southeastern Hingeback’s and learn more about what I am missing with that species. Breeding Lobaste Hinge-back Tortoise (Kinixys lobatsiana) will always be a dream of mine as it is my favorite species in the genus. I was gifted a lone male, but finding a female has proven difficult as they are scarce outside their native range in Botswana and South Africa.

Preservation will always remain a goal of The Kinixys Cooperative—preservation through managed captive propagation. Together, with the help of the Turtle Survival Alliance and other like-minded turtle organizations, hard-working researchers, serious private keepers, dedicated institutions, the Kinixys Working Group, and The Kinixys Cooperative, we will not lose the forgotten tortoises of Africa.

Contact: Jeremy Thompson, The Kinixys Cooperative, www.TheKinixysCooperative.com [KinixysCoOp@gmail.com]

Hatching Hope in India

Neither COVID nor typhoons can stop turtle conservation

by Shailendra Singh, Saurabh Dewan, Arunima Singh, Sreeparna Dutta, and Pawan Pareek

On this brisk morning, the sun’s emergence bathes the shores of the Dhansiri River in a muted yellow. Lalit is atop the bank looking for a good spot to wade across the numbing water of the river running behind Nagaland Zoo. From above, the Dhansiri appears beautiful and deceptively calm. In stretches though, it’s a powerful wedge of water with dangerous crevices underneath. Just upstream, the river appears shallow enough to cross. With waves curling off his knees, Lalit heads toward Dhansiri bazaar to fetch vegetables for a group of hatchling Asian Giant Tortoises (Manouria emys) under his care. If not for this local weekly bazaar, the other nearest market is close to seven miles away in the outskirts of Dimapur, the gateway to Nagaland.

The former capital of the Kachari tribes, Dimapur means “city near a great river” in the local dialect. With Dhansiri on one side and wooden meadows flanking the other, a joint program of TSA and Nagaland Zoological Park (NZP) manages an assurance colony of seven male, eight female, and 73 juvenile Asian Giant Tortoises. This is the largest colony of the species in India. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought new forms of operational challenges for Lalit, who is grappling with management and husbandry due to resource constraints and supply-chain disruptions. Howev-

er, this was another year of successful breeding at the Zoo. With hundreds of Asian Giant Tortoise eggs under artificial incubation, and few hatchlings pipping their eggs in early July, there is much to celebrate for this threatened species in these unprecedented times.

Our collective goal is to establish viable wild populations of Asian Giant Tortoise across its historic range in northeast India. Since 2018, our regional team has successfully bred the species in captivity, and this year, we made headway toward expanding conservation breeding to other regional zoological parks. The new Turtle Monitoring Station at the Nagaland Zoo is envisioned as a regional resource center extending trainings and education opportunities. As such, in February we were able to host a capacity building workshop for the regional zoos’ keepers. The program is now poised to build a strong network of efficient tortoise keepers at six regional facilities.

The Asian Giant Tortoise program includes exploration of potential sites to reintroduce captive raised juveniles with the intent of wild population recovery. Though mostly absent in the wild, recent records suggest some tortoises still persist in the wet, mountainous, rather inaccessible terrain of Nagaland’s Naga Hills. There, 16 tribes, vaguely defined under the umbrella term Naga tribe, practice an age old tradition of protecting local habitats as Community Conserved Areas. The majority of these natural habitats are owned and managed by individuals and clans overseen by traditional institutions, and whose customary rights are protected by the Constitution.

In April, we initiated stakeholder meetings and interactions with several ethnic communities from two potential release sites to raise awareness and minimize post-release hunting threats. This resulted in the donation of two juvenile Asian Giant Tortoises to NZP and brings hope for the revival of traditional practices and species conservation. These tortoises are now incorporated into the NZP breeding colony, further increasing its genetic diversity.

Flanking this rich wilderness, the Dhansiri River meanders south to north for over 320 km from its origin at Laisang peak before joining the mighty Brahmaputra River on its south bank. In December, TSA India Program staff and other conservationists gathered on the Brahmaputra’s north bank to commemorate a momentous occasion. One by one, 22 small, snorkel-snouted, saucer-shaped turtles adorned with peacock spots were gently placed on the shoreline before scurrying off and disappearing into their

Jayanta

Bhuyan; Pawan Pareek

From left to right: Headstarted Black Softshell Turtles from Nagshankar Temple are released into the wild for the first time as part of the Return to the Wild program; Hatchling Redcrowned Roofed Turtle.

new riverine oxbow home. These are headstarted juvenile Black Softshell Turtles (Nilssonia nigricans) from Nagshankar Temple’s captive adult population. Regarded, until recently, as Extinct in the Wild, this release in a protected stretch of the Brahmaputra was an historic moment for one of the world’s most endangered turtles and those working for their conservation.

In August 2020, the hatchlings were ceremoniously transferred from Nagshankar Temple to the joint TSA/ Assam Tourism Development Corporation’s Nature Discovery Centre (NDC) in Assam for headstarting. Although an air of uncertainty for their release lingered following the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, field assistant Krishna Das, a member of the local fishing community, was resolute in ensuring the event came to fruition. For nearly six months, the turtles were grown to a larger size under Krishna’s care with the intent of lowering predation probability following release. With high hopes, these hatchling softshells will not only survive, but thrive, grow to adulthood, and help repopulate their species in the wild.

Since 2013, the TSA India Program has been instrumental in rewilding the critically endangered Black Softshell Turtle to the Brahmaputra Floodplain. With no wild popula-

tions known until the mid-2000s, and a few small remnant populations inhabiting the vast Brahmaputra River basin, captive turtle stocks are the best hope for wild replenishment. Owing to an age-old religious tradition of turtle “donation” dating back to the Ahom kings of Assam, Nagshankar Temple today houses the most significant captive population of the species in India. Through steadfast engagement, our Northeast regional team assists the Temple Committee year-round to improve husbandry conditions, incubate and hatch eggs, while pursuing the goal of utilizing the Temple’s captive turtle population for a wild recovery effort. This effort was recently noticed by the Honorable Prime Minister of India.

Formally known as the “Return to the Wild” program, the December softshell release is the first of many to rewild the Brahmaputra under an MOU signed between TSA India, select Temple Committees, and Government institutions of Assam. In growing the collaborative program, this year the “Black Softshell Turtle Vision 2030” document was composed and signed with a singular focus: recover wild Black Softshell populations. Included is the Hayagriva Madhava Temple Committee at Hajo, another of the region’s prominent temples. With numerous stakeholders

Sushmita Kar

on board, our collective goal is to establish an ecologically viable population of 1,000 Black Softshells in the Brahmaputra by 2030. We are off to a good start, as we are currently rearing another 120 hatchlings from Nagshankar at the NDC for future release.

To the southwest, the Brahmaputra converges with the Ganges River before flowing south to the Bay of Bengal. Their confluence forms the Sundarbans delta, a vast expanse of mangrove swamps and forests. This ecoregion is home to one of the world’s most endangered turtles, the Northern River Terrapin (Batagur baska). It teeters on the brink of wild extinction in India. A proactive conservation breeding program of TSA and Sundarban Tiger Reserve (STR) gives the Critically Endangered species a glimmer of hope.

Despite past successes with Northern River Terrapins, each year is met with nervous anticipation, as these are the

last of their species. Our anxieties began in March when the female terrapins at STR were late to nest. Last year, Super Cyclonic Storm Amphan all but ruined terrapin hatch success. Only 12 hatchlings survived its storm surge. Successful reproduction this year was crucial to making up for 2020’s losses. A sigh of relief came when in mid-March three females emerged upon the artificial sand bank and laid nearly 90 eggs. After three months of incubation, 31 hatchlings surfaced from the sand—nearly three times as many as last year. This was a welcome sight for their keepers Kaali and Sanjeet. Shortly after the terrapins’ hatching though, a storm brewing in the Bay of Bengal brought renewed fear.

The unfettered determination of Kaali and Sanjeet was again put to test when Cyclone Yaas laid siege to STR in May. As soon as the storm had passed, a joint TSA/STR team rushed to the six terrapin facilities spread across the Reserve to examine the cyclone’s impact. Almost all had been flooded, with damage to a few. We immediately began health assessments of the more than 360 turtles and addressed animal care and habitat issues. Many of the terrapins displayed symptoms of a rapid increase in habitat salinity levels, so we immediately conveyed site-specific recommendations to government authorities for remedial action.

From left to right: Asian Mountain Tortoise, Black Softshell Turtle, and Northern River Terrapin are all species of high-priority for the TSA India Program and our partners.

For the Northern River Terrapin, the six conservation colonies at STR are the only hope for their species’ survival in India. Considering conservation urgency, reintroducing captive bred and headstarted individuals is the only way to help ensure a future for this charismatic turtle. Using this approach, we constructed a “soft release” enclosure in natural, tidally-influenced habitat to acclimate a group of juvenile terrapins for release. All turtles will be affixed with satellite transmitters and tags prior to their release into the wild. Understanding their dispersal and survival will be vital to developing a sustainable Northern River Terrapin rewilding effort.

Far northwest of the Sundarbans, along a bank of the Chambal River, Shishubhan exclaims “Kilkari!,” as he wakes from his wooden hut alongside our riverside turtle hatchery. Kilkari is the Chambal team’s poetic use of the Hindi term for the gurgle emitted from of a newborn baby, and given to the scratching sound of hatchling roofed turtles clamoring to get out of the circular bamboo nest protector. This is the climax of our annual five-month effort to locate nests, transfer eggs to protected hatcheries, and provide round-the-clock surveillance until the turtles hatch and are released—an exhausting, yet rewarding endeavor.

In its 14th year, the nest protection project for Redcrowned (Batagur kachuga) and Three-striped (Batagur dhongoka) roofed turtles is one of the longest running species recovery efforts for any non-marine chelonian in the country. The Chambal River sustains the largest known wild populations of the species. However, human threats such as clandestine fishing and egg collection, along with natural nest predators, keeps the populations balancing on collapse. This year, we saw another success -

ful season as our team detected and translocated 712 Redcrowned and 5,842 Three-striped roofed turtle eggs to the riverside hatcheries. Of the 6,554 eggs, 6,366 hatched—a 97% hatch rate. To date, the project has released more than 120,000 Red-crowned and Three-striped roofed turtles into the Chambal.

Two hundred miles to the north of the Chambal, Rinku is on his way to the Uttar Pradesh Forest Department / TSA India Program Laboratory of Aquatic Biology (LAB) at the Kukrail Gharial Rehabilitation Center (KGRC) in Lucknow. The streets are frozen with stillness owing to imposed restrictions for one of the worst hit states by the second wave of COVID-19 in the country. Rinku is there to provide continued care for the hundreds of turtles managed at the facility. Upon arrival, the eerie loneliness of the Center soon turns to welcoming exuberance.

Staring out of chalky-white eggs are hatchling Tricarinate Hill Turtles (Melanochelys tricarinata). The Tricarinate Hill Turtle is a small terrestrial species inhabiting temperate forests and grasslands in the foothills of the Himalayas. A victim of habitat destruction and exploitation for food and pet trades, this endearing turtle was recently listed as Endangered by the IUCN Red List. These little hatchlings mark not only the fourth year successfully re -

Arunima Singh

From left to right : Program records of 24 Tricarinate Hill Turtles (left) and 80 Crowned River Turtles (right) hatched at the Laboratory for Aquatic Biology this year; Dozens of the 5,654 Three-striped Roofed Turtles hatched along the Chambal River scurry to its water.

producing the species at KGRC, but the highest number of eggs and hatchlings produced in one year. Ten nests totaling 24 eggs were deposited between October 2020 and March 2021. All 24 eggs hatched over a ten-day period this May, demonstrating an exceptional 100% hatch rate. These 24 hatchlings significantly increase our captive population of this highly threatened species.

TSA’s hatching of Tricarinate Hill Turtles at our joint lab validates the captive-breeding potential for imperiled turtles rescued from illegal trade. The parents of these hatchlings were among an illegal shipment intercepted by the Uttar Pradesh Police Special Task Force and Forest Department under Operation Kurma in March 2017. Turtle trade is a serious problem in northern India and exceedingly so in the state of Uttar Pradesh. According to TRAFFIC India estimates, over 200 turtles are illegally traded in the state every week. The TSA India Program works relentlessly with local and regional law enforcement agencies to curb these activities. In this case, the 54 Tricarinate Hill Turtles were rescued, released from their bondage, provided first aid, evaluated for abnormalities or signs of illness, and safely transported to the KGRC for rehabilitation. We retained 10 female and six male turtles from the seizure as founding individuals for a breeding program; the additional 38 turtles were released into a nearby protected area. The dedication of our animal care staff is now paying off. So too is our close relationship and collaboration with the Forest Department.

In May, our joint efforts led to another historical hatching event with 80 Crowned River Turtles (Hardella thurjii) hatched at KGRC. Colloquially known as the Brahminy River Turtle, this aquatic species is arguably among India’s most beautiful and unique. Unlike any other Indian native,

the Crowned River Turtle lays its eggs underwater during the flood stage of monsoon season. There, they immediately go into a diapause, or arrested development. As water levels recede, the eggs resume development in the sediment of the waterbody in which they were deposited.

The paucity of knowledge on the Crowned River Turtle’s reproductive ecology and population pattern across its entire distributional range has stymied the development of species-specific conservation plans. To make headway, we simulated natural incubation conditions by inducing diapause during artificial incubation. The result: a greater than 80% hatch success. Deciphering the reproductive peculiarities of this marginally understood species today aids captive breeding for future rewilding or population augmentation efforts.

Today, the KGRC serves as a modern day Noah’s Ark for some of India’s most endangered reptiles. Our joint efforts there deliver on conservation rhetoric. Knowledge gained from TSA India Program’s field team bolsters captive breeding programs and associated research activities, and establishes a connection between field and captive conservation of freshwater and terrestrial turtles in the country. For many species, their future may depend on it.

Acknowledgments: We thank the Forest Departments of Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Assam, and Nagaland, and their officers Mr/Ms Sunil Pandey, PK Sharma, MK Yadava, Vinod Yadav, Ved Pal Singh, Piar Chand, Neeraj Kumar, Sonali Ghosh, Renu Singh, Tapas Das, P Shivakumar, Manoj Sonkar, Manish Singh, Prabhat Kumar, Tejas M, Ashwini Kumar, Justin Jones, RK Tripathi, C Zupeni Tsanglai, Arun Vignesh, Kanak Baishya, Abu Arshad Khan, NK Singh, Diwakar Srivastava, and Sushil Srivastava. We thank Nagshankar Mandir and Hayagriva Madhava temple committees. We thank Namami Gange, Central Zoo Authority, and Wildlife Crime Control Bureau for necessary support. For their program support we thank Ocean Park Conservation Fund, Disney Conservation Fund, Mohammed Bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund, Prince Bernard Nature Conservation Fund, Delta Foundation, Turtle Conservation Fund, Chelonian Advisory Group, British Chelonia Group, Dallas Zoo, Turtle & Tortoise Preservation Group, AZA Chelonian Advisory Group, and Will Ahrens. We thank WCS-India management and administration for their support to the program. We thank TSA Board of Directors and officers, especially Rick Hudson, Andrew Walde, Jordan Gray, Jan Holloway, Amy Carter, and David Hedrick for their untiring support and guidance. We thank our project members Bhasker Dixit, Parimal Ray, Arpita Dutta, Sushmita Kar, Kritika Ranjan, Rashmi Srivastava, Mukesh Mishra, Rahul Kumar, Lalit Budhani, and Hamidur Bhutan for their active assistance. We additionally thank Daren Riedle and Mr. Peeyush Saksharia.

Contact: Shailendra Singh, WCS/TSA India Program, D1/317 Sector F, Jankipuram, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India 226021 [shai@turtlesurvival.org]

High Honors

Shailendra Singh, 2021 Behler Turtle Conservation Award honoree

by Saurabh Dewan, Brian Horne, Rick Hudson, and Andrew Walde

This year’s prestigious 16th Annual Behler Turtle Conservation Award honors Dr. Shailendra (Shai) Singh of India. This award, considered the “Nobel Prize” of turtle conservation and biology, honors and celebrates extraordinary dedication and influential leadership in the international chelonian community.

Shai hails from a small village near the Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary along the Indo-Nepal border in Uttar Pradesh, India. A childhood interest in Indian Tent Turtles (Pangshura tecta) established his deep personal con-

nection to turtles. Shai’s passion at times drew his grandmother’s wrath—notably when he cut up her brand-new mosquito net to make a turtle trap. Today he leads the charge to conserve India’s diverse turtle fauna, many of which are among the world’s most threatened species.

After earning a Master’s in Environmental Science, Shai decided to pursue a career in wildlife conservation (and turn down an officer’s appointment with the Indian Border Security Force), a decision met with opposition from his parents. But with the encouragement of distinguished naturalist Dhruvjyoti Basu and support from TSA, he began working as a researcher with The Madras Crocodile Bank Trust and Centre for Herpetology. While there, Shai established the Chambal River turtle conservation program, targeting the critically endangered Red-crowned Roofed Turtle (Batagur kachuga). Building upon this work, Shai pursued a Ph.D. examining the nesting ecology of the Chambal’s Batagur turtles under the supervision

Arunima Singh

of Brian Horne, with other academic support from Rana Pratap Singh and Ram Lakhan Singh.

The Chambal Batagur project has become a flagship program in northern India, protecting over 10,000 turtle nests and releasing more than 120,000 Red-crowned and Three-striped (B. dhongoka) roofed turtles. The program is closely integrated with riverine communities and has an education center in Garhaita, a remote village along the Chambal. Recognizing this work, in 2008 Disney Conservation Fund selected Shai as a Conservation Hero, the first Indian to receive this prestigious award.

Shai first visited the USA in 2007 to present his work on the Chambal River at the TSA/TFTSG annual Symposium in Atlanta. There, he was able to interact with turtle conservation stalwarts, such as Peter Pritchard, Rick Hudson, and Anders Rhodin, among others. Attending this conference was a turning point of Shai’s career. The following year TSA hired him as Director of the TSA India Program.

“Though young at the time, hiring Shai to lead TSA India was an easy decision,” TSA President Rick Hudson said, “as it became apparent that he instinctively understood TSA’s approach to turtle conservation and was able to conceptualize what needed to be done to protect and recover species.” Shai has since sustained TSA’s longest-standing and most comprehensive program through sheer tenacity and a tireless commitment to fundraising.

Shai was instrumental in organizing three strategic planning workshops in India from 2005 to 2017, which set in motion long-term research and recovery programs targeting each region’s flagship turtle species. Shai also supervised Sundarban Tiger Reserve in establishing India’s only conservation breeding program for one of the world’s most endangered species, the Northern River Terrapin (Batagur baska). This program began with just 11 turtles, and today it numbers 380.

Shai helped establish successful joint assurance colonies with Uttar Pradesh Forest Department at the Kukrail Gharial Research Centre for 10 of the 15 threatened North Indian turtle species. There, he has assisted with the rescue, repatriation, and rehabilitation of over 35,000 turtles of 16 species in the last decade. In 2015, in a first-of-its-kind event in India, Shai facilitated airlifting 400 rescued turtles from Mumbai across the country to the Kukrail Centre for veterinary treatment and eventual repatriation. He also repatriated 130 Critically Endangered Malagasy tortoises to Madagascar, and established rescue programs for freshwater dolphins and gharials.

Shai’s outgoing and infectious personality allowed him to build long-lasting relationships with many riverside communities. These bonds have resulted in establishing three community

From left to right: Dr. Shailendra Singh (Shai) began his turtle conservation career with a focus on restoring the Redcrowned Roofed Turtle (pictured here with a female) in the Chambal River. Today, this program has released thousands of hatchlings into the river; Shai credits much of his success to the dedicated individuals of the TSA India Program team.

conservation centers along the Chambal, Ghaghra, and Brahmaputra rivers. By creating opportunities for socio-economic reforms and alternative livelihoods in these underdeveloped regions, Shai’s efforts have successfully established a connection between local people and their aquatic wildlife. Additionally, he has been actively involved in building capacity among various stakeholders, conducting many training workshops on rescue management, turtle and crocodile husbandry, enforcement, and ecotourism.

In recognition of his leadership in conserving turtles of the Indian sub-continent, Shai was appointed as a Regional Vice-Chair for South Asia for the IUCN Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group. On World Turtle Day® 2016, he helped TSA sign a long-term agreement with the government of Uttar Pradesh for cooperation on turtle conservation. Other such cooperatives have included the governments of Nagaland, Assam, and West Bengal, and several NGOs, such as Wildlife Conservation Society-India.

Shai’s commitment to conservation is unwavering and his enduring passion serves as an inspiration to the global turtle conservation community to share his dream of preserving India’s magnificent chelonian fauna for the future. The international turtle conservation community owes him a debt of gratitude for his efforts.

CREATIVE CONSERVATION ALLIANCE

Lost and Found

Building momentum for turtle conservation in Bangladesh

by Caesar Rahman

It was a long muggy monsoon day in 2014. After a long day of hiking in a remote area of Sangu-Matamuhuri Reserve Forest, my colleagues and I settled in a tiny Mro tribal village for the night. As four of us sat under a Tamarind tree waiting for the village chief to return from his “Jhum” field, my eyes fixated on a group of Mro kids playing in their yard. Each was dragging a random object attached to a string, imagining their objects as cars. I noticed one was dragging a turtle shell. I approached the child and asked him, with a few Mro words I learned, if I could take a look at his “car.” As soon as I held the shell in my hand, my heart raced. It was light brown with dark stains and serrated posterior marginal scutes. I realized the shell I held could belong to an iconic species never before recorded in Bangladesh. I took some candies from my backpack and offered them in exchange for more turtle shells. The children happily accepted the deal and in a few moments returned

with eight similar shells. After several hours of close examination and checking my field guides, I concluded that that the shells belonged to a species that was lost to science for over 86 years—the Arakan Forest Turtle (Heosemys depressa)! The Arakan Forest Turtle was declared extinct in 1908 until a few specimens surfaced at a Chinese food market in 1994. After years of searching, in 2003, a multi-institutional team of scientists found a wild population of Arakan Forest Turtle in Rakhine Yoma Elephant Range, in western Myanmar. These discoveries almost doubled the known global distribution range and opened new doors for conservation of this little known, Critically Endangered species. Moving forward to 2021: As I sit on the porch at our Turtle Conservation Center (TCC) in Bhawal National Park, I reminisce about our discovery of the Arakan Forest Turtle seven years prior, while staring at construction workers hauling bricks for construction of a new enclosure. Our turtle conservation program in Bangladesh has come a long way in the last few years. Last year, due to the recession caused by COVID-19, we struggled to raise funds. Just when things were becoming dire, Turtle Survival Alliance contributed $20,000 from generous donors towards our program in Bangladesh. We then were able to expand our TCC facility and build new enclosures containing 54 individual compartments which will house our increasing number of founders and captive born individuals of Asian Giant Tortoise (Manouria emys phayrei), Elongated Tor-

toise (Indotestudo elongata), Keeled Box Turtle (Cuora mouhotii), and Arakan Forest Turtle. We are also fortunate to have been awarded a small grant from the Bangladesh Forest Department to construct an indoor facility for rearing captive born hatchlings, thus increasing our first-year survival rate. This year, six Asian Giant and ten Elongated tortoise hatchlings were born at TCC, and for the first time our captive Keeled Box Turtle laid two eggs, giving new hope for building an assurance population for Critically Endangered species in Bangladesh. Meanwhile, our first batch of captive bred Asian Giant Tortoise hatchlings from 2019 are doing well, with some individuals close to 1500 g. If all goes well, in just a few months, ten will be released back in the wild for the first time ever in Bangladesh.

As I write this, our Mro tribal parabiologists working in remote areas of Sangu-Matamuhuri Reserve Forest sent me photos of four Arakan Forest Turtles, including two adult males, that they rescued from hunters. They were found in different areas, so releasing them into scattered locations with no protection will leave them vulnerable to poaching and have no lasting contribution to conservation. We currently have three female and four juvenile Arakan Forest Turtles at the TCC with no males, so we hope these newly rescued animals will enable us to increase the captive population for future releases.

Meanwhile, in the Bayejid Bostami Shrine in Chatto-

gram, our collaborative work with the Shrine Authority continues. This year we hatched 72 Black Softshell Turtles (Nilssonia nigricans) from the temple pond, representing major success despite the challenges we faced during the pandemic. However, a tragic event occurred in April that poses a new risk for the remaining adult turtles in the Shrine pond. A young boy slipped into the pond and drowned in the middle of the day when nobody was there to rescue him. His remains weren’t recovered until a full day had passed. Erroneous rumors spread quickly that the fish and turtles in the pond pulled the boy down, drowning him. This news went viral on social media and, consequently, an anti-turtle sentiment emerged in the surrounding neighborhood. We are concerned that retaliatory killings could take place. We are communicating with the Bangladesh Forest Department and the Shrine Authority to establish a second captive population in another location in case there is an attempt to poison the pond. Until then, we can only hope that no harm comes to the misunderstood, Critically Endangered turtles of the Shrine.

Contact: Shahriar Caesar Rahman, Creative Conservation Alliance, Bhawal National Park, Gazipur, Bangladesh [caesar@conservationalliance.org]

From left to right: The Arakan Forest Turtle is a focal species for captive breeding and wild recovery in Bangladesh; Volunteer at Bayejid Bostami Shrine with a Black Softshell Turtle hatchling; New enclosures at the Turtle Conservation Center in Bhawal National Park.

PROJECT BATAGUR BASKA

Fourth Time’s a Charm

New females contribute to nesting success

by Doris Preininger, Rupali Ghosh, Peter Praschag, and Anton Weissenbacher

It’s Sunday morning of an unspectacular weekend between mandated home-office days in Austria as I open my phone to check emails. There, in bold letters, an email subject line reads: FIRST NEST IN KARAMJAL. I open the email to find that 27 eggs were laid last night at one of our assurance colonies. With these words, on February 28, 2021, the terrapin egg-laying season in Bangladesh has begun.

Five years ago, we set about establishing a Northern River Terrapin (Batagur baska) breeding colony in Karamjal, a Bangladesh Forest Department station. Situated within the turtles’ native Sundarbans ecoregion, this colony was developed as back-up to our breeding program in Bhawal National Park. For founder stock, we

transferred four female and five male terrapins from the Bhawal captive population. In each of the years following the establishment in Karamjal, we found two nests per egg-laying season. It’s presumed Northern River Terrapin females lay only a single egg clutch per year, therefore two out of four females mated and successfully deposited their eggs in the pond’s sandbank annually.

Four days later, the next message arrives saying we got nest number two. Two days later, another message: nest number three. Unbelievable to us, a female thought to have never before nested did so this year! The major goal of the breeding program is a self-sustaining population with individuals that closely resemble their wild counterparts in both behavior and genetic profile. Consequently, we aim to minimize inbreeding and preserve maximum genetic diversity. With the laying of the year’s third clutch, this just happened. For the first time, a female passed on her genes to the next generation, significantly boosting genetic variation in our captive population.

While three clutches incubate, hopes that a fourth female crawls forth from the pond to nest seem unlikely. One female in the breeding group is probably still too young to nest. The turtle is about 23 years old, donated by a villager in an emotional parting. But breeding maturity is assumed to not occur for females until around the age of 25. I think we will have to wait a few more years for nest number four.

Two weeks later, I stand corrected when a message on my phone reads: Nest 4 – 23 eggs!

For Northern River Terrapin conservation efforts in Bangladesh, 2021 was a spectacular year for captive breeding, producing 91 hatchlings across both stations, including offspring with an immensely valuable genetic contribution to the species’ future.

Acknowledgments: We thank our local partners the Prokriti O Jibon Foundation and the Bangladesh Forest Department. We thank Austrian Zoo Organisation (OZO), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Herpetologie und Terrarienkunde (DGHT), Zoological Society for the Conservation of Species and Populations (ZGAP), and the Society of the Friends of Schönbrunn Zoo for their funding and support.

Contact: Doris Preininger, Vienna Zoo, Maxingstraße 13b, 1130, Vienna, Austria [d.preininger@zoovienna.at]

Abdur

Rob; Maksudur Rahman

From left to right: Ninety-one Northern River Terrapins hatched this year at the assurance colonies in Bangladesh; Nearly seven years after her 2014 acquisition, then aged 16 years, this female terrapin laid her first clutch of eggs at Karamjal.

Turtles Thrive Despite Turmoil

Recent events create a challenging environment for turtle conservation

by Steven G. Platt and Kalyar Platt

On February 1, 2021, as I removed Southern River Terrapin (Batagur affinis) eggs from a sandbank at the TSA/WCS Koh Kong Reptile Conservation Center (KKRCC) in Cambodia, I learned that the Burmese military had brazenly seized control of Myanmar’s government in a coup. I had been working in Cambodia since December 2020, barred from entering Myanmar by COVID-related travel restrictions. My elation at finding the terrapin eggs was tempered by the sudden realization that these developments would likely dash any hopes I had of rejoining my wife Kalyar, my children, and our dedicated team of biologists in Myanmar, thus putting our efforts to

Steven G. Platt

The Burmese Star Tortoise is a flagship species for our collaborative Myanmar program. Nearly extinct in the wild by the early-mid 2000s, now, thousands of tortoises once again roam wild spaces of Myanmar’s Central Dry Zone thanks to the steadfast dedication of individual turtle conservationists, our partners and supporters.

is unsafe, funds can be difficult to access because of limits on cash transfers, and the upward spiral of COVID means there is an ever-present risk of contracting this potentially fatal disease.

Milestones in Burmese Roofed Turtle conservation

Despite this devastating and bleak situation, the past months were marked by several notable achievements. The 2020-21 nesting season saw the first successful reproduction of Burmese Roofed Turtles (Batagur trivittata) at our assurance colony in Lawkanandar Wildlife Park (LWP) and solved a riddle that we have long pondered—at what age will female Burmese Roofed Turtles begin laying eggs in captivity?

With turtles hatched from eggs collected along the Chindwin River in 2007 and 2008, we founded the assurance colony in 2010. Two years ago, we deposited a truckload of sand beside the pond, creating what appeared (to us) to be an ideal site for nesting. But, alas, no eggs were forthcoming in either 2019 or 2020. Then, in February, Dr. Tint Lwin (TSA/WCS Veterinarian) excitedly messaged us saying that keepers had found fresh turtle tracks on the sandbank. A few days later, a second message confirmed that eggs had indeed been deposited in the sandbank. Additional crawls (turtle tracks) began to appear during February and early March. After nesting ceased in mid-March, the team there enclosed the sandbank in a wire fence to prevent any emerging hatchlings from disappearing into the 2-acre lake. On April 9, keepers found nine hatchlings, which represent an important milestone in our efforts to save the Burmese Roofed Turtle from extinction. This marked the first time that turtles reared in captivity had matured and successfully reproduced. These events served to answer our long-standing riddle and now we know that female Burmese Roofed Turtles require at least 14-15 years to attain sexual maturity in captivity. More hatchlings followed and by late-June a total of 35 baby Roofed Turtles had been found on the sandbank. These young turtles are now growing rapidly and we expect to release them in the Chindwin River in about five years.

save that country’s imperiled tortoises and freshwater turtles on hold.

The situation in Myanmar remains tenuous, with protestors still in the streets. Moreover, a massive surge in COVID-19 cases is rapidly overwhelming the healthcare system. With case positivity rates exceeding 40% on some days, there is little doubt that Myanmar is in the grips of one of the most devastating outbreaks anywhere in the world. The twin specters of political and civil unrest and a pandemic now overshadow every aspect of our work in Myanmar and have far-reaching impacts on our ability to continue important conservation work. Travel in many regions

The year 2021 also was a banner one for our assurance colony of Burmese Roofed Turtles at the Yadanabon Zoo in Mandalay. About 175 hatchlings are produced annually at this colony, with hatchlings typically emerging in late April. Hatching begins first as a trickle then soon becomes a torrent, as the main pulse occurs just as the rains begin in late May. This year, the number of hatchlings showed no sign of abating as we approached the usual ceiling of 170. New hatchlings continued to appear every morning, and the season’s tally crept ever higher, eventually hitting an all-time record of 207. We attribute this increased production to one, or perhaps two, young females that entered the breeding population during the past year. Combined with the production at LWP, 242 hatchlings joined the captive

population in 2021. These numbers bode well for the future of the Burmese Roofed Turtle, even as the wild population struggles to survive in the Chindwin River.

Assurance colony marks 14-year anniversary

In 2007, authorities seized more than 70 adult Giant Asian Mountain Tortoises (Manouria emys phayrei) from wildlife traders in Mandalay and brought them to the Yadanabon Zoo. Under circumstances that can best be described as extremely serendipitous, a TSC/WCS team was already on hand working at the Zoo. In one of TSA’s finest hours we managed to save all of these unfortunate animals and later incorporate them into two assurance colonies: one at the Rakhine Yoma Elephant Range in Gwa, the other at the Turtle Rescue Center (TRC) in May Myo, in the hills above Mandalay. Due to the prevailing cooler temperatures there, the TRC colony has had better breeding success.

There, female tortoises initiate nesting in April by raking vegetation and soil into large piles, followed by egg-laying a few days later. This tortoise is one of the few turtles that actively protects its nests from predators and—although our staff rarely observe laying—the aggressive demeanor of individual females is a reliable sign that a nesting mound contains eggs. We place the eggs in Styrofoam Boxes filled with a layer of sand covered by moistened leaves. Since adopting this technique several years ago, our hatching rates have markedly improved. This year 67 eggs hatched and are being headstarted at the TRC. Eventually we hope to identify a suitable protected area and reintroduce head started tortoises into the wild. Unfortunately, COVID-19 delayed this process and now political instability and other restrictions

make planning a reintroduction impossible for the foreseeable future.

Progress toward captive breeding of Big-headed Turtles

The TRC also houses our assurance colony of Big-headed Turtles (Platysternon megacephalum), established with turtles confiscated from wildlife traffickers in 2016 and 2017. After several years of maintaining turtles in fiberglass tanks, we secured funding to construct a customized facility of concrete tanks with a continuous flow-through water supply, each home to a single Big-headed Turtle. Individual quarters are necessary for these pugnacious turtles, which are intolerant of others except during their breeding season. This year we began introducing pairs and standing by to observe their behavior. Some pairings resulting in aggression, others in courtship followed by mating. In late June one female deposited a clutch of two eggs that was recovered by our staff and are now incubating at the TRC. If hatching is successful it will represent the first captive breeding for this challenging species in our program.

Burmese Star Tortoise program moves forward

Recent events sidelined, but have not halted, our reintroduction of headstarted Burmese Star Tortoises (Geochelone platynota) into protected areas of the Dry Zone. Captive breeding continues apace at the three assurance colonies with more than 2,000 hatchlings produced in the 2020-21 breeding season. And, now we are also establishing a fourth assurance colony in a spacious deer enclosure at Chatthin Wildlife Sanctuary in the northern Dry Zone. The assurance colony comes on the heels of a 2018 sur-

Kalyar Platt

Clockwise from left: 2021 was a banner year for Burmese Roofed Turtle reproduction, producing a record 242 hatchlings; A 2007 confiscation of more than 70 Asian Mountain Tortoises served as the founders for our assurance breeding colonies; In 2021, 67 Asian Mountain Tortoises hatched at the TRC; In spite of challenges, field teams continued their work for Myanmar’s Critically Endangered turtles; Me Me Soe and Myint Myint Htay take a DNA sample from a rescued Big-headed Turtle.

vey that confirmed Burmese Star Tortoises once occurred in this region but were extirpated by poachers in the mid1980s. We followed our surveys with a detailed habitat assessment, which identified several potential reintroduction sites in the sanctuary. We previously were on track to return tortoises to the sanctuary by early 2020 when COVID intervened and travel restrictions forced us to postpone our plans. Nonetheless, we recruited and trained several groups of Community Conservation Volunteers from villages abutting the sanctuary. These volunteers will participate in all aspects of the reintroduction and play a crucial role in protecting and monitoring the rewilded tortoises.

Although we returned no headstarted Burmese Star Tortoises to the wild this year, our egg transplants continued at two wildlife sanctuaries in central Myanmar. Egg transplanting is a novel conservation strategy rarely, if ever, attempted with tortoises, simply because most breeding programs have few eggs to spare. With hundreds of nests produced each year in our assurance colonies, we are well positioned to return a portion of these eggs to the wild. We collect 30-50% of the eggs produced in the captive facilities

at Minzontaung and Shwe Settaw wildlife sanctuaries and transplant them to appropriate sites in natural habitat. Predator exclusion boxes (wooden frames covered in wire mesh) are placed over each of the nests, which are then allowed to complete incubation. Upon hatching, the young tortoises simply wander off to fend for themselves. Although mortality is no doubt high among these hatchlings, low juvenile survival is a typical life history trait among long-lived tortoises. The advantage to this approach is that free-living hatchlings are subject to a regime of natural selection that we cannot duplicate in captivity. Therefore, we expect the surviving tortoises will be hardier, more robust, and better adapted to life in the wild.

Acknowledgments: For their steadfast and generous support of the TSA/WCS Myanmar Turtle Conservation Program, we wish to recognize the following donors: Andrew Sabin and the Sabin Family Foundation, Andrew Walde, Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, Paul and Linda Gould, Holohil Systems, Ltd., National Geographic Society, Panaphil Foundation, Paul Goulet and Little Rays Reptiles, IUCN-SOS (Save Our Species), Ed Neil, Turtle Conservation Fund, Wildlife Reserves Singapore, and Wildlife Conservation Society.

Contact: Steven G. Platt [sgplatt@gmail.com] and Kalyar Platt [kalyarplatt@gmail.com] Turtle Survival Alliance and Wildlife Conservation Society, No. 100 Yadanar Myaing Street, Kamayut Township, Yangon, Union of Myanmar

The Return of the Giant Turtle

The flagship species of the iconic Mekong

by Sitha Som, Chanti Gnourn, and Steven G. Platt

January 8, 2021. We set out in a boat from a town of Sambour District, Kratie Province, to one of hundreds of sandbanks on the Mekong River that are exposed by falling water levels during the dry season. Over the next week, we plan to provide additional training to locally-hired nest protectors who are stationed on these islands on how to handle eggs and hatchlings, and collect data on nests of the Asian Giant Softshell Turtle (Pelochelys cantorii).

Stretching across Cambodia from north to south, the Mekong River is home to one of the largest river turtles in the world—the Asian Giant Softshell Turtle—known to attain 129 cm in carapace length!

Before dawn, the team goes out by wooden boats to search for nests constructed overnight on the many different sandbanks. We have to rush to search for nests early in the morning because the females leave tracks on the sand that we follow to her nest. However, the strong winds quickly erase the tracks if we are late arriving at the sandbanks, rendering them almost impossible to find.

Luck was with us and on the first morning, as we located three nests at three different sandbanks. To avoid natural predation and illegal collection by fishermen, we transferred each clutch to our secure incubation enclosure at the riverside home of a nest protector. Luck continued to smile upon us and the following morning, we found two more nests, each containing almost 50 eggs.

Our nest protection program benefits by recruiting former turtle egg collectors to become nest protectors. The

left to right: Buddhist monks, teachers, students, village chief and project staff release hatchlings into the Mekong River. The monks provide Buddhist blessings for good luck to the hatchlings before releasing; Field staff measure the biodata of an Asian Giant Softshell Turtle nest and its eggs before transporting them to a secure incubation enclosure.

nest protectors live at various locations along the Mekong River. All of them are contracted seasonally to search for and protect nests.

The 2021 nesting season saw a sharp increase in the number of nests of Asian Giant Softshell Turtle, from 49 nests in 2020 to 66 nests in 2021. Our nest guards recovered 2,498 eggs and 1,300 hatchlings hatched (52% hatch success), a slight increase from last season when the hatching rate was only 47% (845 hatchlings out of 1,786 eggs).

With the ongoing training and interventions, we hope that this species will return to their state of richness in the iconic Mekong River.

Acknowledgments: We would like to give special thanks to our donors: European Union – Parnters Against Wildlife Crime, Turtle Survival Alliance, USAID – Greening Prey Lang, and Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies (MACP).

Contact: Sitha Som, Wildlife Conservation Society, Cambodia, #21, Street 21, Tonle Basac, Chamkarmorn, Phnom Penh, Cambodia [ssom@wcs.org]

From left to right: Sitha Som (WCS); Steven Platt (WCS)

From

Cambodia’s Royal Turtles Nest for First Time in Captivity

20 years of effort starts paying dividends

by Steven G. Platt, Sitha Som, Chris Poyser, and Phun Thorn

January 2021 proved to be a milestone in our efforts to save the imperiled Southern River Terrapin (Batagur affinis) (known as the “Royal Turtle” in Cambodia) from extinction. Prior to the nesting season, which begins in January, we constructed a sandbank beside the pond which houses our breeding turtles at the Koh Kong Reptile Conservation Center. Our turtles had never reproduced in captivity, but within days we began to find crawls on the sandbank, but no eggs. Then, on 19 January while en route from Phnom Penh to Koh Kong, I received a call from our staff who dropped a bomb—a female had deposited a clutch! The staff scraped back sand to verify eggs were indeed present, then stood by to await my arrival. Late that afternoon I rolled into the center and we began carefully scraping the sand from the top of the nest. Each egg was carefully removed, then transferred to an incubation area. It wasn’t until January 24th that I was able to return, which coincidentally is my birthday. Once again, we exhumed the buried eggs with great care. Our hearts sank as the first few eggs showed no signs of chalking, indicating these were infertile. Then, a prominent white band caught our eye as we pulled the fifth egg from the sand. What a birthday present! We confirmed chalking on several more eggs before reburying the clutch. These fertile eggs were the first ever produced at the center and bode well for the future of the Royal Turtle in Cambodia. For me, these eggs

held special meaning because I was involved in the “rediscovery” of the Royal Turtle in Cambodia 20 years earlier. Ultimately, five more clutches would be laid at the center before nesting ended in March. Three of these contained fertile eggs, while the others consisted of only infertile eggs. But alas, only one of the eggs hatched successfully, the hatchling being dubbed “Steve” in my honor by staff. Why the other eggs failed to hatch remains a mystery. Nonetheless, we are optimistic that hatching success will improve in the coming year.

Acknowledgments: We would like to give special thanks to our donors: Mandai Nature, Alan & Patricia Koval Foundation, and Turtle Survival Alliance for providing financial and technical support to construction of the center and the turtle head start program. Grateful thanks to European Union- Partners Against Wildlife Crime, USAID-Greening Prey Lang, Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropy, and Turtle Survival Alliance for providing financial and technical support to save the species. We thank our Government counterparts: Fisheries Administration for actively supporting the field implementation and protection of the species.

Contacts: Steven Platt, Wildlife Conservation Society, Cambodia, #21, Street 21, Tonle Basac, Chamkarmorn, Phnom Penh, Cambodia [sgplatt@gmail.com]

From left to right: Sitha Som and Steven Platt measure nest egg depth at the Koh Kong Reptile Conservation Center in late January 2021; Project staff unearthing and measuring eggs of a female Southern River Terrapin at the newly-built sand incubation mound at the Koh Kong Reptile Conservation Center.

A Conservation Breeding Center for Cambodia’s Turtles

by Christel Griffioen, Philipp Wagner, and Stephanie Jessen

The Kingdom of Cambodia is an important turtle diversity hotspot. This small Southeast Asian country boasts an impressive 18 recognized species of tortoise and freshwater turtle—a number likely to change soon due to updated species range extensions and incorrect historical records. Due to political affairs, the turtles and tortoises of Cambodia have benefited from a reduction in human pressures over the past few decades. Now though, accelerated development, rapid economic growth, and increasing Chinese influence are leading to high rates of habitat loss. Agricultural development, deforestation, hydropower projects, and sand mining—combined with the collection of turtles for human consumption

and illegal trade—pose an existential threat to the country’s turtle diversity.

The Angkor Centre for Conservation of Biodiversity (ACCB) was established in 2003 as a conservation center of Allwetterzoo, Münster (Germany) in collaboration with the Zoological Society for the Conservation of Species and Populations (ZGAP). The Center sits on the periphery of one of the last large forested tracts in northern Cambodia. Here, ACCB upholds a long-term commitment to turtle and tortoise conservation and rehabilitation in the country. Our captive conservation programs safeguard 853 individual turtles belonging to nine species found in Cambodia: Elongated Tortoise (Indotestudo elongata), Southern Riv-

THE ANGKOR CENTRE FOR CONSERVATION OF BIODIVERSITY

From left to right: Male and female Southern River Terrapins after receiving their biannual health examination; This hatchling Malayan Box Turtle will be headstarted at ACCB for several years before being released into the wild.

er Terrapin (Batagur affinis edwardmolli), Malayan Box Turtle (Cuora amboinensis kamaroma), Yellow-headed Temple Turtle (Heosemys annandalii), Giant Asian Pond Turtle (Heosemys grandis), Mekong Snail-eating Turtle (Malayemys subtrijuga), Black Marsh Turtle (Siebenrockiella crassicollis), Southeast Asian Leaf Turtle (Cyclemys oldhamii), and Western Black-bridged Leaf Turtle (Cyclemys atripons).

Elongated Tortoise Conservation

Elongated Tortoise populations have significantly declined throughout South and Southeast Asia. In Cambodia, populations are threatened by habitat loss, subsistence foraging, and overexploitation for commercial trade. Even populations within designated wildlife sanctuaries are now facing extirpation. At ACCB, we maintain an assurance colony founded with tortoises acquired through our wildlife rescue and rehabilitation efforts. The colony consists of 472 individuals, of which 374 were hatched between 2014 and 2021. The first 100 tortoises hatched have now achieved a body size believed suitable for release. In collaboration with Wildlife Conservation Society-Cambodia and other local partners and stakeholders, we hope to secure funds for a pilot reintroduction project of captive-bred individuals into a secure protected area.

Southern River Terrapin Conservation

The Southern River Terrapin, also known as the Royal Turtle in Cambodia, was believed extinct in the country until 2000, when a small population was rediscovered by the Fisheries Administration (FiA) and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in the Sre Ambel River. The first terrapin pair arrived at ACCB in 2012, followed by the 2016 transfer of 25 ten-year-olds from the WCS’s captive population in Koh Kong, Cambodia. Upon the terrapins reaching reproductive age, we were excited to witness the first clutch of 16 eggs laid at ACCB on March 18, 2021. The majority of the eggs were fertile, but unfortunately, the embryos died in early stages of development. With the goal of creating a more balanced sex ratio in our breeding population, this July we transferred eight mature males to WCS’ Koh Kong Reptile Conservation Center (KKRCC). These eight males will be part of the WCS’ next wild release of terrapins into the Sre Ambel. Through these management practices we hope to have a successful breeding season in 2022.

Southeast Asian Box Turtle Conservation

The Malayan Box Turtle is widespread across Southeast Asia, but has for decades experienced intense collection

for food, pet, and Traditional Chinese Medicine trades. Though it is adaptive to altered and fragmented landscapes, the level of collection of this turtle makes population rebound difficult. Cambodia is likely second to Vietnam in terms of collection of this Endangered subspecies. Currently, we maintain 298 Malayan Box Turtles, of which 271 are captive hatched. The first two Malayan Box Turtles hatched at ACCB in 2012 and 2013, and from 2014 onward breeding success dramatically increased. The offspring from early years have attained a size suitable for release, and the need for an exit strategy for subadult specimens is becoming crucial if we want to continue our captive conservation breeding program.

Acknowledgments: We would like to thank previous and current donors for their support: Mandai Nature, Turtle Survival Alliance, Zoological Society for the Conservation of Species and Populations (ZGAP), Stichting De Harpij, Dutch and Flemish Turtle Association (NBSV), American Association of Zookeepers (AAZK) Naples Chapter, Jay Allen, Dr. Goetz, and Welttierschutzgesellschaft e.V. Furthermore, we thank Allwetterzoo Münster, Fisheries Administration of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of the Royal Government of Cambodia, Ministry of Environment, Wildlife Conservation Society, and Rising Phoenix Co., Ltd. for their support and collaboration.

Contact: Christel Griffioen, Angkor Centre for Conservation of Biodiversity, P.O. Box 93054 Siem Reap, Cambodia [cgriffioen@ accb-cambodia.org]

Terrapin Tracks

Painted Terrapin conservation expands south

by Joko Guntoro

“Once upon a time, before [the] 90s, it was abundant here. We were able to collect dozens of eggs in one night. Now, it is very difficult, even to find only one nest,” says Wak Pon, a man in his seventies, when I visited his village to carry out a nest patrol on December 2, 2020.

Yes, Painted Terrapins (Batagur borneoensis) were once abundant along the coast of Langkat Regency in North Sumatra. However, due to the unsustainable collection of eggs each nesting season, and hunting of adults to supply market demand in the 80s to 90s, the population here precipitously declined. Among turtle specialists, that period of time of overexploitation is known as the “Asian Turtle Crisis.” It continues to this day.

Experts sounded the alarm over the massive exploitation occurring, yet the world remained largely unaware. Even

by the end of the 2000s, locals collected terrapin eggs in the provinces of Aceh and North Sumatra. But the consequences soon became clear—Painted Terrapins disappeared from much of their historic range. I witnessed this same sobering story in 2020 when I visited several locations in southern Sumatra searching for live evidence of the Southern River Terrapin (Batagur affinis), another Critically Endangered species. Like the Painted Terrapin throughout much of its historic range, it, too, was gone. Fortunately, the Painted Terrapin still clings to existence on our island.

Over the past 10 years of searching for terrapins in Sumatra, the conclusion I’ve come to is that viable populations of Painted Terrapins only remain in Aceh and North Sumatra. I heard testimonials of purported terrapin sightings in Riau and Kampung provinces during last year’s travels, but no conclusive evidence has come forth. When we first inter-

vened in the terrapin’s decline in Aceh Tamiang, a regency of Aceh, in 2011, we nearly missed the population in Langkat, North Sumatra, just 57 km south. In fact, it wasn’t until December 2017 that the species was formally documented in the province when an adult female became entangled in fishing gear. We responded to the report and released her. We commenced nest patrols on two of the regency’s beaches shortly thereafter.

With our Painted Terrapin conservation program well established in Aceh Tamiang, and thousands of hatchlings released to date (we released another 330 this year), we’re turning much of our focus to preventing local extinction of the known small population in Langkat. We aim to recover the wild population there, especially in the Karang Gading Langkat Timur Laut (KGLTL) Wildlife Reserve, through replicating our efforts in Aceh. Nest patrols to secure eggs from human and natural predators are now high priority.

From December 2020 to January 2021, our team from the Satucita Foundation and staff of BBKSDA (Nature Conservation Agency of Indonesia) North Sumatra, Section II-Stabat, with help from members of a youth group, we conducted nest patrols on two beaches in the regency. As the nesting beaches are separated by an estuary, and take an hour by wooden motor boat from one to the other, we divide our team into two. One team scours the beach of Sarang Elang and the other the beach of Teluk Ara.

Each night, except when rains are heavy, the teams drive the boat from the village of Tapak Kuda to the nesting beaches. We walk the length of each beach, searching for tell-tale female terrapin tracks that lead us to her nest. Sarang Elang is less than 300 m in length, while Teluk Ara is only 100 m at most, depending on the tides. After two months of searching we successfully secured 75 eggs from five nests. The population there is obviously low. Of the 75 eggs, 48 hatched after nearly three months of incubation at the hatchery we built in Tapak Kuda. The hatchlings are being reared in the 1.5 m deep pool of a former aviary that we recently renovated in the KGLTL wildlife reserve.

Nest patrols are a costly effort, and the number of eggs secured annually in Langkat is low due to the small wild population size. The few hatchlings are being headstarted to attain a larger size before their release. In developing a management plan for the Langkat terrapin population, a subset of the headstarted terrapins will be retained to serve as founder animals for a captive breeding population. Through proper management, the captive breeding effort will act as an important component of our recovery strategy for the Painted Terrain in Langkat. This will require long-term partnerships and commitments from all stakeholders involved.

Thousands of footprints, hundreds upon hundreds of hours, and 60 hatchlings since 2018 are just the beginning of what will be a long and arduous road to recovery for the Painted Terrapin in North Sumatra. For this

Clockwise from left: Conservation program stakeholders in the District of Aceh Tamiang release Painted Terrapin offspring into the river, the habitat of this critically endangered species; A nest patrol team in Langkat evaluates characteristics of the nest in order to reconstruct it similarly when relocated to the hatchery in the village; A hatchling being raised in a pool for long-term conservation efforts in Langkat.

beautiful and Critically Endangered species, it’s worth it. Though the sight of countless terrapin heads breaching the surf of North Sumatra’s coast is now a distant memory, through our actions, it can be the future. It can be Langkat’s reality.

Acknowledgments: We give thanks to Turtle Survival Alliance, Houston Zoo, Synchronicity Earth, and Asian Species Action Network, for their support. We also thank BKSDA Aceh, District Government of Aceh Tamiang, BBKSDA North Sumatera, and PT Pertamina for their partnership in program implementation.

Contact: Joko Guntoro, Satucita Foundation, Dusun Mawar, Desa Bukit Rata, Kejuruan Muda, Aceh Tamiang, Indonesia, 24477 [jokoguntoro@gmail.com]

TURTLE CONSERVATION SOCIETY OF MALAYSIA

Emergency Relief for Malaysia’s Terrapin Guardians

by Pelf-Nyok Chen

Iabruptly wake to the sounds of text message alerts. I am inundated with images of houses engulfed in floodwaters. A particular photo catches my attention: an old wooden house surrounded by trees and partially submerged. Just above the water line, clothing hangs from lines on its second story veranda. What appears to be the home’s motorbike shed is all but underwater, its damaged roof barely above the watermark and strewn with debris. I launch myself from bed and begin making urgent calls. I need to talk with the women in the village of Pasir Gajah along the Kemaman River who are besieged by the floodwaters shown in the photos. As I speak with each of them, the same story is repeated—the water rose quickly and they evacuated in the middle of the night. It’s now 8 AM on the morning of January 8, 2021. Looking at my phone, aerial photographs on the news and social media show approximately 80% of the town beneath muddy, tea-like water. Where yesterday there were roads, now there are rivers. Rooftops resemble LEGO® blocks protruding from a sea of mud. What started as shock turns to a focus on action. These women, their families, and the village that is home to

our Turtle Conservation Society of Malaysia (TCS) project need immediate assistance.

I quickly begin a fundraiser on social media for my friends, colleagues, and conservation program. That call is rapidly answered thousands of miles away by TSA, who begins their own fundraising campaign to assist us. With my attention on helping others, I am inattentive to my own surroundings. Monsoon rains are pounding my own house here in Chukai, 12 km from Pasir Gajah. At 10 PM, I am hit with my own reality: my home too, is flooding. My family and I evacuate just as my peers did last night. My thoughts turn to safety and turtles, one in particular: the Southern River Terrapin (Batagur affinis).

The Southern River Terrapin inhabits coastal fresh and brackish rivers and estuaries in Thailand, Cambodia, and Malaysia. Although of great importance to their native ecosystem, they also for centuries have been a source of food, with adults and eggs collected for consumption. The eggs are considered a delicacy, only available for about a month each year. To add to their plight, other threats such as incidental bycatch in fishing nets and habitat degrada-

Pelk-Nyok Chen (TCS); Jaynell Ling

tion—including the direct destruction of critical nesting beaches by sand mining operations—are leading to continued population losses. Now, it’s one of the world’s most endangered freshwater turtles. In Malaysia, it is considered a “totally protected wildlife” species under the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010.

To offset declines, in 2011, I initiated the community-based terrapin conservation project, TCS, in the riverside village of Pasir Gajah. Our initial team consisted of five reformed egg poachers who later began calling themselves the “Terrapin Guardians.” Each year from February to March, we camped along the riverbank to locate and observe nesting female terrapins. After nesting, we would carry the females to the campsite to take measurements, microchip, and then release them back into the river. The next morning, we would excavate the eggs and take them to our protected hatchery for incubation. Upon hatchling emergence, we would weigh and measure the terrapins, and Pakcik (Uncle) Wazel would head start them for a few months before releasing them. Now in our 11th year, thousands of young terrapins have since been released through fine-tuning this method.

One night at our campsite, Wazel said to me, “Before I was involved in this project, I was considered an outsider here. But now, they call me ‘Wazel Tuntung’ (Wazel the Terrapin Guy).” This project has given Wazel a sense of identity and belonging in a village where he has lived most of his life. Now, this project has expanded to include 14 villagers who protect four riverbanks and translocate eggs to our hatchery.

In 2019, I also initiated a community empowerment program for women in low income households. This cooperative empowers women to be financially independent, and

From left to right: Despite the flooding that occurred at on onset of nesting season, 244 Southern River Terrapin eggs hatched at the TCS’s River Turtle Conservation Center in 2021; Some of the women in our women empowerment program in Pasir Gajah Village, Kemaman, Terengganu. Most of them were housewives, but through this program they have learned new skills and are earning an income by producing turtle-themed batik merchandise for sale; One of the houses that was severely affected in the flood. The motorbike shed next to the house was completely underwater. The owners of this house were evacuated to higher grounds in the middle of the night.

in the process, raises funds for our turtle conservation efforts. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit Malaysia, our government imposed a nationwide lockdown in March 2020. As a result, our regular fundraising activities could not be conducted. When the lockdown was lifted four months later, we immediately developed our first merchandise: fabric face masks made of turtle-themed batik fabric, with no two pieces the same. Besides Malaysia, our masks were shipped to the US, UK, France, China, India, and Australia. In less than five months, the women had collectively earned approximately $6,500 USD. All of this, the cooperative and the year’s turtle conservation efforts, were put at risk in a matter of hours by the flood.

It’s now January 10th, and just as quickly as the floodwater rose, so too do they retreat back into the Kemaman. Most of us are returning home. I ask the women to perform a damage check. We will need funds quickly to replace their damaged furniture and electrical appliances and help them get back on their feet. I meet them at the village with haste. I tell the women about the donation drive and the funds donated from kind, generous people who have visited us, or read about us on social media and the support through the TSA. As I pass them envelopes containing recovery funds, two of them break down in tears. “Thank you very much. You have helped us so much. Never has anybody helped us in this way.”

My eyes well up too. Our community, our program, our turtles will be OK.

Contact: Pelf-Nyok Chen, Turtle Conservation Society of Malaysia, 13538, Lorong Solehah 3A, Taman Desa Solehah, 24000 Kemaman, Terengganu, Malaysia [pelf@turtleconservationsociety.org.my]

Hope for Swinhoe’s Giant Softshell

Stalking the world’s rarest turtle

by Nguyen Long, Nguyen Tai Thang, Jack Carney, Timothy McCormack, and Jordan Gray

It was just before 7 AM on October 22, 2020. The morning was picturesque as the sun rose from the East. The greenish brown water upon which our boat gently bobbed mirrored the blue sky overhead. In the background, a light haze lifted off the brilliantly illuminated Ba Vì Mountains. The tranquility of the lake, however, did not reflect the anticipation boiling within us.

Link by link, we pulled the long net from the water. The already weighty netting was further weighted by the large animal in its grasp. As the netting was drawn in, the animal breached the water’s surface. Its large forelimbs and sharp claws thrashed violently against the twine. Light dazzlingly glistened from its massive fleshy brown shell. Small yellowish spots adorning its head appeared as if made of gold. Using all our strength we hauled the behemoth into the boat. Our exertion turned to elation. This was it, this was the turtle we’ve spent years planning to recapture. This was the Swinhoe’s Giant Softshell (Rafetus swinhoei), the world’s rarest freshwater turtle.

Earlier that morning, the turtle was reported to Nguyen Van Trong of Asian Turtle Program (ATP) of Indo Myanmar Conservation (IMC) by a local fisherman who saw it swimming along the edge of our 25 hectare netted zone in Dong Mo Lake, just west of Hanoi. We set this zone in September 2020 using four large nets, some over 1500 m in length, to corral the turtle from the lake’s vast expanse so that we could begin trapping efforts. We’ve sighted the turtle with binoculars often over the years. This same turtle was believed last captured in 2008 when the lake’s dam broke. Due to mitigating circumstances though it was hurriedly released back into the lake before its sex and other critical information could be obtained. Now, determining its sex was more crucial than ever.

In April 2019, the last known female Swinhoe’s Giant Softshell died in captivity in China. With her went much of the hope for the future of this sacred turtle species— but not all. We knew this turtle to reside in Dong Mo, but no one has had hands on it in 12 years. If it was female, it would restore hope for the species, as an ancient male still resides in Suzhou Zoo, China, and another turtle of unknown sex resides in Xuan Khan Lake, Vietnam. We’ve

observed the large animal in Xuan Khan numerous times, and in 2018 confirmed it as Swinhoe’s Giant Softshell through eDNA technology. It’s sex, however, cannot be determined through the same technology. With the Dong Mo turtle at last in hand, we could determine if it was male or female, and potentially the fate of the species.

On shore, an already prepared team, including veterinary staff from ATP, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), and Four Paws was waiting with great anticipation. We

Nguyen

Tai

Thang

On the morning of October 22, 2020, intensive efforts to capture the single confirmed Swinhoe’s Giant Softshell Turtle living in Dong Mo Lake paid off. Following meticulous data and DNA collection, sex confirmation, and tagging it was released back into the lake.

systematically measured, took DNA samples, photographed, and sexed the large turtle. It was female! Reasonably young and still healthy, she also appeared, from head markings, to be the same animal rescued in 2008. A resounding sigh of relief could be felt by all, one that would reverberate through the global conservation community. Now, she could be returned to her life in the wild.

The group gathered at the water’s edge to release the female softshell turtle back into her home. She quickly scur-

ried down the vegetated embankment and disappeared into the murky waters of Dong Mo. With the positive confirmation of her sex, our efforts could move on to another turtle who has eluded us.

What appears to be a second Swinhoe’s Giant Softshell has been reported from Dong Mo, and has subsequently been photographed simultaneously with the adult female turtle. With nets in place, further weeks of hard work and observations led to the containment of the second ani-

mal in the trapping zone. The team trapped for two seven-week periods with four deep-water funnel traps and trammel nets, but sadly, despite our best efforts, the turtle remained elusive. In December 2020, and again in June 2021, we had to end trapping without knowing if this turtle is indeed another Swinhoe’s Giant Softshell.

As we move forward through 2021 and into 2022, the capture of Swinhoe’s Softshell Turtles in Dong Mo and Xuan Khanh lakes remains a key activity of the Hanoi City action plan for Rafetus. Continued surveying, trapping, and positive confirmation of the species and individual sex in the lakes are priority for the Rafetus Alliance, a collaborative of the ATP/IMC, WCS Vietnam, TSA, Re:wild, and the Centre for Natural Resources and Environmental Studies (CRES) from Hanoi University in partnership with the Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and its Fisheries Department. Though hampered by COVID-19, we look to the future, with a focus on Xuan Khanh Lake, where a solid confirmation of the species is still needed, and sexing could likely decide the fate of this incredible species. We are all hoping for a male.

Acknowledgments: We are grateful to the Viet Nam Government for leading the effort and partnerships to save this species. The partners conducting this work thank the following: Forest Protection Department, Viet Nam Forest Administration, Fisheries Department, the

Biodiversity Conservation Agency of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Finance Department, Natural Resources and Environment Department, Planning and Investment Department, Science and Technology, Tourism, Culture and Sport, Ba Vì district People’s Committee, Son Tây town People’s Committee, and the Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources of the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology.

Additional support for this work came from: Alan and Patricia Koval Foundation, Auckland Zoo, Birdlife International, British Chelonia Group, Browse Poster UK, Central Institute for Natural Resources and Environmental Studies, Viet Nam National University, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo and Cleveland Zoological Society, Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, Education for Nature, Re:wild, International Union for the Conservation of Nature, Island Foundation, The Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund, Ocean Park Conservation Foundation Hong Kong, Panaphil and Uphill Foundations, Turtle Conservation Fund, Turtle Survival Alliance, George Garretson Wade Charitable Trust, Washington State University, WCS Canada, Zoological Society of London, as well as a number of private donors who have supported efforts to save the Swinhoe’s Softshell Turtle.

Contact: Nguyen Long, Wildlife Conservation Society-Vietnam, 106, D Building, Thanh Cong Villa, No. 3 Thanh Cong St., Ba Dinh Dist., Ha Noi, Viet Nam [nvlong@wcs.org]; Timothy McCormack, Asian Turtle Program [tmccormack@asianturtleprogram.org]

Nguyen Tai Thang

Endeavors to capture Swinhoe’s Giant Softshells in Dong Mo Lake in 2020 and 2021 were all hands on deck efforts by teams of the Rafetus Alliance.

Pritchard Turtle Conservation Award

Recognizing lifetime achievements, 2021: Bonnie Raphael and Don Moll

by Anders G.J. Rhodin and Rick Hudson

With the passing of Peter Pritchard last year, the Behler Award Committee honored his legacy by renaming our previous Turtle Conservation Appreciation Awards as the new Pritchard Turtle Conservation Lifetime Achievement Awards. Pritchard Awards are presented annually to notably worthy living individuals in special recognition of their lifetime achievements and impact on turtle conservation or biology.

This year the Pritchard Award honors the lifetime achievements of Bonnie Raphael and Don Moll, and we recognize and honor them for their important contributions to turtle conservation, veterinary medicine, education, ecology, and natural history. They and their predecessors are heroes of the global chelonian conservation community.

Bonnie L. Raphael earned a DVM from Michigan State University and, after completing a residency at the University of Florida under Elliott Jacobson, became the first full time veterinarian at the Dallas Zoo. She later moved to the Bronx Zoo of the Wildlife Conservation Society, where she found the niche that captured her attention, intellect, emotion, and abilities: the world of turtles and tortoises. For the next 26 years, working with other giants in the field (John Behler, Bill Holmstrom, Rick Hudson, Steve and Kalyar Platt, Paul Calle, and Herilala Randriamahazo, to name a

few) she became a champion for the role of veterinary medicine in conservation, particularly as applied to chelonians. She frequently worked in the field, notably in Myanmar, Madagascar, and Vietnam, and excelled at supporting and mentoring aspiring young wildlife veterinarians. Although retired since 2016, she continues to work with TSA and as a Veterinary Advisor with WCS. We honor her for her tireless veterinary efforts on behalf of turtle conservation.

Don Moll is Professor Emeritus at Missouri State University and retired in 2010 after 33 years of teaching ecology, biogeography, and other biology courses. His main research interests are chelonian conservation, ecology, and natural history, and he has conducted field research in the USA, Central America (Belize and Costa Rica), East Africa (Tanzania), and Southeast Asia (Thailand). He and his brother Edward (former Chair of the TFTSG) together wrote the influential and important book The Ecology, Exploitation and Conservation of River Turtles in 2004. He has particularly enjoyed working with graduate students and has mentored many M.S. students at Missouri State and as an adjunct professor at the University of Louisville, the University of Florida, and Chulalongkorn University, Thailand. We honor him for his important work on turtles, and also for mentoring and educating many students.

IN MEMORIAM

Richard Vogt was a beloved mentor by his students, was committed in particular to South American turtle research and conservation, and left a lasting legacy of scientific contributions. He is seen here in 2012 with his students on the project Tartarugas da Amazônia research vessel.

Richard Carl Vogt (1949 – 2021)

by Camila Ferrara, Brian Horne, and H. Bradley Shaffer*

Richard Carl “Dick” Vogt passed away on 17 January 2021 in Manaus, Brazil, after a brief battle with septic shock. Born on 6 August 1949, in Madison Wisconsin, Dick completed his undergraduate (1971) and PhD (1978) degrees at the University of Wisconsin, followed by four years as a post-doctoral researcher at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History (1978 -1982). In 1981, Dick took his first academic position in Mexico as an Investigador Titular and Curator of the Herpetology Collection at Estacion de Biologia Tropical Los Tuxtlas, Universidad National Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM). In 2000, Dick assumed the role of curator of Reptiles and Amphibians at the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazonia (INPA) in Manaus, where he continued his work on the ecology and systematics of Amazonian turtles until his death.

Dick’s lifelong achievements as a scientist, mentor, and conservationist are best summarized by two interrelated aspects of his career. The first are his published contributions to the ecology, behavior, and conservation biology of turtles. Dick published over 200 research papers, 44 book chapters and 21 books on herpetology, including his influential early work on temperature dependent sex determination in turtles, and his more recent collaboration with Camila Ferrara documenting underwater vocal communication in turtles.

But Dick’s most important impact was through his students and mentees. In Mexico, he trained two generations of turtle biologists, who always considered him to be their professor, mentor, and good friend. In Manaus, Dick supervised and empowered a generation of Amazonian field researchers through the INPA post-graduate program.

During his 21 years at INPA, he supervised 44 undergraduate, 37 Masters, and 16 PhD students. One of Dick’s most important achievements, and a tremendous source of pride for him, was his contribution to gender equality in science. Of the postgraduate students he mentored, 53% were women, and his success in helping launch the careers of these young scientists is a lasting part of his legacy. Much of that training, as well as his classes on turtle biology, took place on Dick’s beloved research boat, the “Tartaruga da Amazônia,” where he introduced students and researchers firsthand to the ecological wonders, and conservation challenges, of the Amazon.

One of Dick’s proudest accomplishments was completed in 2015, when he opened the Centre for Amazon Turtle Research (CEQUA) on the grounds of INPA in Manaus. The Centre raises public awareness of wildlife conservation and management for locals, interstate and international visitors alike.

Dick Vogt lived his life doing what he loved most: studying turtles. In so doing, he inspired those around him. His personality was not always easy, as his colleagues and friends recognized. However, he also had a huge heart to match that hard-shelled personality. Dick left his mark with his contributions to science, to conservation, and to friends and family. We miss him. Thanks/Gracias/Obrigada Tartarugão!

*42 additional students and colleagues from Mexico and Brazil co-authored an expanded version of this obituary, published in Herpetological Review.

Mario Carvalho

TURTLE CONSERVATION FUND

Central American River Turtles in Belize

by Denise M. Thompson, Day B. Ligon, and Donald T. McKnight

The Central American River Turtle (Dermatemys mawii) is native to southern Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize. It is beautifully adapted to an aquatic lifestyle, with a smooth hydrodynamic shell, giant webbed feet, a snorkel-like nose, and some ability to breath underwater. It can reach impressive sizes, commonly reaching 10 kg and occasionally 22 kg. It is a strict herbivore and many populations historically achieved exceptional densities. Unfortunately, recent surveys throughout its range have documented steep population declines and extirpation of many populations. Today, more viable populations occur in Belize than in Mexico or Guatemala, but even there many populations are gone. Unfortunately, although it is IUCN Red Listed as Critically Endangered, Dermatemys can be legally hunted for most of the year in Belize. This hunting pressure is the primary cause of its decline. The foremost questions for conservationists in Be -

lize and internationally are how many viable populations remain, and how can the consistently negative population trends of recent decades be reversed to save the species from extinction?

In 2018, the Belize government prioritized assessing the population status of Dermatemys to better understand how to manage its recovery. We assembled an international team of biologists to conduct population surveys through the time-intensive work of calculating population sizes and assessing the demography of populations in rivers and lagoons.

As we did this work, unsurprisingly, we fell in love with both Dermatemys and Belize. In 2020, with support from TCF and others, we established the Belize Turtle Ecology Lab (BTEL), a consortium of passionate turtle biologists representing academic institutions and NGOs in Belize, USA, and Australia. BTEL is currently conducting projects to better understand Dermatemys biology and conservation, including ongoing population surveys throughout Belize, behavioral and reproductive studies, and telemetry to measure movements, habitat preferences, sociality, and the utility of reintroducing headstarted turtles to augment and reestablish populations. Much of our rewarding work is led by students to foster the growth of the next generation of conservation biologists.

From 2002 through 2021, TCF has funded 313 of 860 submitted proposals, for total disbursements of about $1.34 million; average awards were $4,268, with projects conducted in 60 nations. TCF has provided 17 grants for work on Dermatemys, including this most recent one, for a total of $72,000.

Contact: Denise Thompson [denise.thomp son17@gmail.com], Day Ligon (DayLigon@ MissouriState.edu), Donald McKnight [donald. mcknight@my.jcu.edu.au]. Hugh R. Quinn [DoubleHQ@aol.com]; Anders G.J. Rhodin [rhodincrf@aol.com]

Dr. Day Ligon inspects a juvenile, headstarted Central American River Turtle affixed with a transmitter prior to its release.

Member Spotlight

Nafisa Islam

Social Media Manager, Creative Conservation Alliance (CCA) DHAKA, BANGLADESH

How did you get involved with TSA partner Creative Conservation Alliance?

I was introduced to CCA when I attended one of their workshops in Lawachara National Park, Sylhet, Bangladesh in 2017. I continued to follow their conservation initiatives after this workshop, as well as kept in touch with Caesar Rahman and Scott Trageser. I contacted them and asked if I could contribute to CCA via voluntary work, which I did. Caesar has since played a major role in my academic and professional life, not only as a mentor, but as a friend. After graduating from AUW, I joined CCA as a Communications Intern, eventually becoming their official Social Media Manager.

What’s your experience thus far working for CCA in a country with a male-dominant society?

I have not faced any problems yet though I have not traveled extensively into the field. So far, working with CCA has been great. The team has created a very inclusive environment where I can feel comfortable being myself and not worry about the problems associated with being a woman in this country. They are highly aware of

the problems that female conservationists might face here, and always incorporate these in their plans when conducting workshops so as to create a safe, comfortable, and inclusive environment.

Can you tell us about the conservation challenges in Bangladesh?

There are multiple conservation challenges working in Bangladesh. First and foremost is the country’s focal problem: eradicating poverty. It is difficult to raise conservation awareness in a country where people do not have access to basic human necessities and are struggling to survive. We cannot expect people, whose main goal is to survive and provide for their families, to think about other species they are living amongst. Some of us have the privilege to be concerned about wildlife. It will seem very condescending to go into areas, which are biodiversity hotspots, and tell local peoples that their traditional lifestyle practices are harming wildlife and need to change.

Michael Ogle Curator of Herpetology, Zoo Knoxville KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE

What is it about TSA that inspired you to provide such generous support?

Over what has been a 20-plus year career at Zoo Knoxville, I’ve been able to watch TSA grow from humble beginnings to

become THE name synonymous with turtle conservation. Rick Hudson and Dwight Lawson have always treated us as partners, and I know my career would not be anywhere near as fulfilling without working with this organization. Our entire zoo is behind TSA, from our president and CEO, Lisa New, to our newest team member. This is why we have made TSA one of our top two conservation organizations to which we donate.

Tell us about carrying on Bern Tryon’s Bog Turtle legacy in Tennessee?

Continuing the work that Bern started with Bog Turtles in Tennessee is one of the most daunting tasks I’ve ever had! I knew that I could never replace the knowledge and experience he had with this species, but over time, we have been able to develop a successful team of field staff, land managers, and others that are as inspired by his work as we are. Bern was able to teach us a lot about these turtles, and we are currently using the husbandry knowledge he shared to head start over 35 Bog Turtles in our biosecure room. These are scheduled for release back into protected wetlands in the south next spring. As Bern said, “It’s all for the turtles.”

What inspired you to work with the dwarf tortoises of Madagascar?

We have always maintained one of the largest collections of both species of Pyxis, but for many years had no success breeding them. As a young keeper wanting to prove my worth, I set out to change that! Thanks to Bern I was able to connect with Matt Goetz at Durrell to learn what had been successful for them. Using the data that they collected and replicating it to the best of our ability, we were finally able to hatch our first Flat-tailed Tortoise in 2002. I was hooked! Over the next few years, we were able to hatch all three subspecies of Spider Tortoise as well. One of the highlights of my career occurred when Rick asked me to compile our husbandry information to share with his team in Madagascar. Just knowing that we were contributing in a small way to saving these tortoises is about as good as it gets!

Become a TSA Member

As a TSA member, you will not only have the benefit of making a difference in TSA’s global efforts to protect more than 100 species of turtle and tortoise, but you will also receive a variety of other exclusive member benefits, including our annual magazine, monthly e-newsletters, and special discounts and opportunities created especially for TSA members. Your membership in TSA directly benefits our work, advances our mission, and moves us even closer to our vision of zero turtle extinctions!

Learn more and become a TSA member at turtlesurvival.org. Thank you for your support!

Leave a Lasting Legacy

TSA’s Legacy Circle honors dedicated individuals who want to extend their support of Turtle Survival Alliance well beyond their lifetime. By making a planned or legacy gift, you can ensure a safe future for turtles and tortoises around the world. Provide for Turtle Survival Alliance’s future by naming TSA as a beneficiary in your estate plans and be certain that we can continue working toward our vision of zero turtle extinctions for years to come.

For additional information or to explore the benefits of gift and estate planning (including through life income gifts, gift annuities, mutual funds, real estate, life insurance, and other planned gifts), please contact Amy Carter, Director of Development, at acarter@turtlesurvival.org

THANK YOU TO OUR PARTNERS

The Turtle Survival Alliance is proud to acknowledge the following organizations that make our work possible. The organizations listed here provide a range of services supporting our mission, including guidance, networking, strategic planning, funding, husbandry, rescue, animal management, marketing and public relations, field research, logistical and technical support, salaried positions, and other resources.

We wish to acknowledge the individuals and organizations who donated to support the Turtle Survival Alliance between 1 October 2020 and 30 September 2021.

$100,000 +

Alan and Patricia Koval Foundation

Anonymous

Disney’s Animal Kingdom

Gregory Family Charitable Fund

USAID

U.S. Department of Interior

$50,000 – $99,999

Dennler Family Fund

$25,000 – $49,999

Aktionsgemeinschaft Artenschutz e.V.

Felburn Foundation

Fondation Segré

Fort Worth Zoo

Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund

San Diego Zoo

$10,000 – $24,999

Animal Survival International

BirdLife International

David Crews and Andrea Gore Charitable Fund

The Delta Foundation

Desert Tortoise Council, Inc.

Detroit Zoo

David Allan Hutchison

IUCN - Save Our Species

John Iverson

Mandai Nature

Edward Neil/Ed Neil Charitable Fund

Ocean Park Conservation Foundation

Oklahoma City Zoo & Botanical Garden

Riverbanks Zoo & Garden

Sedgwick County Zoo

TC Energy Foundation

Virginia Zoo

Zoo Knoxville

Zoo Med Laboratories, Inc.

$5,000 – $9,999

William A. Ahrens

Deborah Behler

British Chelonia Group

Jacqueline Cogswell

Dennis Coules

The Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation

Dallas Zoo

Marc Dupuis-Desormeaux

Christian Fischer

Friends of Wekiva River, Inc.

Whitney Green

William Holmstrom

Jill Jollay

John D. Mitchell

PADI Foundation

Re:wild

Rufford Foundation

St. Louis Zoo

Brett C. Stearns

Stuart Salenger Foundation Inc.

Tortuga Foundation

Turtle Conservation Fund

Zoo Atlanta

Zoo Boise

$1,000 – $4,999

Allison C. Alberts/Alberts Family Charitable Fund

Amazon Smile

Ellen S. Anderson

Andrew Sabin Family Foundation

Animex Fencing

Alvin Atlas

Baton Rouge Zoo

Henry Brooks

Buffalo Zoological Gardens

William Cato

Cleveland Metroparks Zoo

Columbus Zoo and Aquarium

Robin De Bled

Dickerson Park Zoo

Dutch-Belgian Turtle Society (NBSV)

Tatyana Elefante

Elizabeth C. Bonner Foundation

Ellen and Guillermo Bernal Family Foundation

Susie Ellis

Freed-Hardeman University

Nina Geneson

Janis Gerrits

Elizabeth Glassco

Richard A. Hahn

Michael E. Hasselbring

Rick Hudson

Ingenious Brewing Company, LLC

Iron Pie Ecological Consulting

Honolulu Zoo’s Aloha ‘Aina Conservation Fund

Howard Johnston

Kansas City Zoo

Robert and Denise Krause

Lisa Lemza

Paul Licht

Peter V. Lindeman

Little Rock Zoo

Anthony and Ingrid Lombardino

Luther King Capital Management

Hervé Maranda

Brandon Martin

Martin House Brewing Co.

Lisa BE McCarthy

The Merck Foundation

George A. Meyer

Sy Montgomery

Sandra J. Moss

Naked River Brewing Company

Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens

Network for Good

North Carolina Zoological Society

Nurtured by Nature

William Parker

Matt Patterson

Permafund - Permaculture Australia

Sean M. Perry

Bonnie L. Raphael, DVM, DACZM

Anders Rhodin

Santa Fe College Teaching Zoo

Seneca Park Zoo Society

Sequoia Park Zoo Foundation

Shane McConkey Foundation

David Shapiro

Frank Slavens

Michael Stepniewski

Mark Swingle

Toronto Zoo

Turtle and Tortoise Preservation Group

Utah’s Hogle Zoo

Bob Walker

Bruce Weber

Bruce Weissgold

Woodland Park Zoo

Diane Yoshimi

In-Kind

AppRiver

Fort Worth Zoo

Illumina, Inc.

Limehouse Produce

Mazuri Exotic Animal Nutrition

Mepkin Abbey

WREN Consulting

Zoo Med Laboratories, Inc.

Gustavo Garcia

Through the generous contributions of donors, Critically Endangered turtles, like these hatchling Magdalena River Turtles in Colombia, have a chance at survival. In each of the last two years, TSA partner program Tortugas

has hatched and released ~2,000 young turtles.

del Sinú

Dr. Mamizara Rakotondrazanany examines a Radiated Tortoise prior to transporting it to the reintroduction site in July 2021. This is one of 1,000 that had been health screened, cleared for release, and isolated at TSA’s Tortoise Conservation Center in February 2020.

Photograph by Rajo Adolphe Landry Andrianiaina