Zoos with the rarest / most endangered freshwater turtles

The need for assisted translocation with the Western swamp turtle in Australia ? research in collaboration with Perth zoo :

 

World-first-breeding in 2010 and still kept at the zoo but more importantly : Vienna has played an great role in Northern river terrapin-conservation in the wild :

This zoo just saved one of the world’s rarest turtles from extinction

 

Thanks for sharing @vogelcommando ! Very interesting indeed!

I do find the title a little bit premature in its phrasing of the species being "saved" as conservation is never really finished but otherwise it was a great read on the Northern river terrapin.

I had no idea that this species was so sought after for the black market trade in its native Bangladesh.

 

Not really related to zoos as such but this is an interesting online seminar / lecture about freshwater turtle conservation in Australia :

 

Lots of lectures / webinars from the Turtle Survival Alliance , an NGO dedicated to the conservation of Chelonians :

Long necked turtle conservation in Australia:

Freshwater turtle conservation in Northern India:

Freshwater turtle conservation in Assam, India:

Freshwater turtle conservation and citizen science in India:

Freshwater turtle conservation in Bangladesh:

Status of freshwater turtles in Hispaniola (Dominican Republic / Haiti) :

Diamond back terrapin conservation in Florida:

Q&A on growth , age and longevity in turtles:

Turtle biodiversity around the world:

Turning passion for turtles into conservation action:

Q & A turtle taxonomy :

Work of the TSA in Colombia :

Work of the TSA in Madagascar:

Work of the TSA in North America:

 

Northern river terrapins had been pretty much exterminated across their range thru overharvesting and poaching. Token captive stocks found here and there have allowed headstart breeding and a potential road to recovery.

 

Yes, the captive breeding programe is great but there are some challenges in avoiding a genetic bottleneck, there is a paper I've just downloaded and scanned through called :

"Conservation genetics of the northern river terrapin (Batagur baska) breeding project using a microsatellite marker system"

It doesn't look good for the species genetically :

"According to our results, most wild-caught terrapins are related (Fig. 3). Given the long life expectancy of turtles, this situation suggests that the wild population experienced a severe decline long ago. The few survivors are largely related at the level of half sibs (or first cousins, aunts/uncles-nices/nephews or grandparents-grandchildren). For conservation purposes, the present genetic diversity should be preserved to the greatest extent possible. Thus, the reproduction of closely related terrapins has to be avoided."

 

Zoo Wrocław keeps and breeds many threatened turtles in its huge, 2-storey terrarium. The building is huge, although individual terrariums are not especially remarkably designed. But there is lots of them (anybody counted? there could be much over 100 exhibits in this building).

 

Thanks for this @Jurek7 , went through the gallery and found some shots of Wroclaw's collection of freshwater turtles :

Ouachita map turtle:

False map turtle:

Zulia toad headed turtle:

Hilaire's toad headed turtle:

Burmese peacock turtle:

Spiny softshell turtle:

Malaysian giant turtle:

Painted wood turtles:

White lipped mud turtle:

Snapping turtle:

Chinese box turtle:

Mata-mata:



Photo credits to @lintworm , @Arek , @nikola , @ThylacineAlive , @Maguari , @m....k and @LaughingDove.

 

More freshwater turtles at Wroclaw zoo:

Yellow spotted river turtle:

Roti island snake necked turtle:

Mccord's snake necked turtle:

Caspian turtle:

Keeled box turtle:

Red bellied short necked turtle:

Fly river turtle:

Chinese three keeled turtle:

Amboina box turtle:

Red eared slider:


Photo credits to @lintworm , @Arek , @nikola , @ThylacineAlive , @Maguari , @m....k and @LaughingDove.

 

Got to say though @Jurek7 that some of the turtle terrariums at Wroclaw don't look so great for their inhabitats :

 

@Carlos M This is the exhibit / enclosure that you mentioned at the Aurora zoo that was going to be for the turtles right ?



Photo credit to @toto98.

 

Yes, that one it's the supposed exhibit

 

Looks like a great enclosure indeed, I hope that it will eventually be used for those species

 

I found a picture that I took some years ago (I think it was taken in 2017) of one of the turtles, the Central American Snapping Turtle (Chelydra rossignonii). It is considered as Vulnerable by the IUCN. Sadly, I couldn't find any picture of their enclosure.

Central American snapping turtle (Chelydra rossignonii) by Carlos M posted 17 Jan 2021 at 9:31 PM

 

Great shot ! What a monster, Looks like quite an old one too.

Well I hope these are put in that new enclosure they have constructed as they certainly could do with being showcased to the public.

 

Sure, they have gone through a bottleneck now. It is something true for all species with small populations. They require careful genetic and population management for recovery. I never contested that.

 

Yes, no problem Kifaru, wasn't suggesting you were contesting it.

Just brought it up as thought the bottleneck was pertinent that even with captive breeding and reintroduction efforts the paucity of genetic variation may still prove problematic.

 

More photos of mixed species enclosures with freshwater turtles found in the gallery

Yellow bellied sliders and ruddy duck at Gaia zoo Kerkade, the Netherlands:

Yellow spotted Amazon river turtle and florida manatee at Zoo Tampa Lowry, USA:

Red eared slider with mute swan and African goose at Zoofari Mexico, Mexico:



Photo credits to @KevinB , @Nod , @Talli.

 

Quite an interesting feature with freshwater turtles, a turtle pond in the middle of a restaurant so you can eat while watching the turtles at Klein Costa Rica in the Netherlands :





Photo credits to @vogelcommando.