Which is best freshwater turtles in mixed species exhibits ? or as standalone exhibits ?

I agree of course about the necessity for a lot of the top conservation concern turtle species to be kept behind the scenes or even better within conservation facilities in the range country for captive breeding purposes.

However, I do very strongly believe that those that are more suited for being exhibited to the public should be displayed in terrariums in reptile houses or in outdoor enclosures where appropriate.

I personally do not really care whether most of the public find them engaging or not as they are still ambassadors for their species and serve an important educational role that may be appreciated by a few visitors.

 

The issue with quite a few freshwater turtle species is that they like to bury a lot. If a turtle buries and is never visible to the public, it is much better off being kept behind the scenes and using the space on Exhibit for a different species- possibly either a Turtle species less prone to burying or another small herp- there are a lot of strikingly beautiful amphibian species that are equally or more important to conserve than freshwater turtles.

 

Yes, I agree with you about the burying thing and particularly in the case of softshell turtles and box turtles.

You are quite right that there are a lot of amphibians that are viable options for display too and the decline in populations of amphibians is one of the other great herp conservation crises.

However, I do think that freshwater turtles have a lot of potential in zoos in terms of being animals to raise awareness and there are a lot of species which are both charismatic and active.

 

In a good zoo or aquarium (i.e., one where all of the animals are well cared for and have good exhibit space), can you have too many turtle exhibits, both single species and mixed? People love turtles. San Diego has a whole reptile house for turtles, as well as having them in mixed species exhibit like their western pond turtle stream and the gharial exhibit.

 

In answer to your question, I think that both singled and mixed-species exhibits for turtles are just great and I love to see them at zoos.

I also love the idea of more zoos getting into keeping more freshwater turtles and contributing to their conservation.

 

There should be more of these. There are serpentariums, why not have a similar thing for turtles.

 

It could work as a concept at the bigger zoos for sure.

 

I guess with the more charismatic species it would work to keep them in single species Exhibits, although when choosing what species to put on public display I personally prioritize education over conservation.

 

Totally agree, I would also prioritize education over conservation in terms of display.

That said, I do think that there are some very enigmatic species like the Roti island snake necked turtle that really do stand out to visitors because of their strange appearance and I think species like that could be good for exhibits for the public to raise their profile.

 

Roti Islands were one of the few species I was thinking about for good Exhibit animals- along with Malayan Painted Terrapin, Fly River Turtle, Giant Yellow-spotted Amazon River Turtle, probably a few more I can't think of right now. I also think a lot of native species (eastern box, blandings, musk, etc.) and the southeast Asian Box turtle are ideal for Ambassador animals and outreach programs.

 

Funny enough those were pretty much exactly the same species I was thinking about too.

I think certainly in the USA those would be good candidates for outreach programes but as freshwater turtles are endangered all over the world these could change from region to region.

 

I have no idea what species it will include, but in Buttonwood Park Zoo's masterplan, one of the new exhibits is listed as "Asian Turtle". It will be interesting to see what rare species this includes, as it almost certainly will be endangered species. Currently for turtles, the zoo has Giant Yellow-spotted Amazon Riveer Turtles, a Matamata, and yellow-footed tortoises in their rainforest building.

 

That is an interesting development and one that I quite like the sound of.

Hopefully it will be a really innovative exhibit that showcases one of the threatened species from that region.

 

It looks like a fairly small Exhibit so I doubt it will be anything TOO innovative- although definitely a nice addition. You can see the whole masterplan on bpzoo.org

 

Yes, I'll definitely check it out, thanks for mentioning !

 

I would say mixed exhibits are probably better. As mentioned before, many turtle species seem to do better in mixed exhibits and even with many other species the turtles will often get the most attention because people love turtles. The Cairns Aquarium has a really nice display of Fly River Turtle, Jardine River Turtle, some species of snake-neck turtle, Stirling's Snapping Turtle, native rainbowfish and Eastern Water Dragons, and it even has a little tunnel at the back for the kids. It seems to be extremely popular with visitors, even more so than their Ocellaris Clownfish and Regal Tangs.

 

Thanks for sharing @DaLilFishie !

Unfortunately couldn't find any photos in the gallery of it nor the tunnel (which sounds a great educational feature for kids) but I did find this photo you've taken of one of the residents of the tank

 

Yeah, that's the one! I'll have a look through my photos and see if I have a pic of the whole exhibit and upload one if I do. The tunnel is in the image, it's right behind the turtle in the pic.

 

@Onychorhynchus coronatus I don't have a pic of the whole exhibit but I do have this one of most of it (there is another land area on the other end of the exhibit, and the entrance and exit of the tunnel are not shown). I'll upload some pics of the different turtle species on the Cairns Aquarium media page if you want to have a look.

 

Thanks for sharing @DaLilFishie !

It looks like a fairly large exhibit , it would be great to see the tunnel that you mention as I really think it is a great idea to showcase the species more to the public.

That would be awesome, I'll check it out on the media page and thank you