Mary’s turtle now critically endangered
Threat level raised for Mary River turtle
The federal government recently announced that the Mary River’s “punk” turtle, named for Chris van Wyk’s now famous image of the turtle with green algae growing on it’s head, was uplisted to critically endangered. This is just one step away from extinct. What does this mean for the future of this iconic turtle that is only found in the Mary River?
In 2001, Tiaro Landcare launched a conservation program for the Mary River turtle.
Glenda Pickersgill holds a male and female Mary River turtle
Their efforts have resulted in thousands of young Mary River turtles entering the river each year. This conservation program has operated in collaboration with university researchers in the quest to better understand the ratio of adults to immature turtles, home ranges, diet, genetics, and habitat preferences. Researchers believe that this community-supported research has built a much greater holistic understanding of the Mary River turtle requirements which can now be used to guide better informed management actions.
In 2000, the federal government listed this species as endangered, just six short years after it was scientifically described as a species. At that time little was known about it other than the harvesting of thousands of eggs from the wild that occurred each year for the Australian pet trade. This trade ceased in the early 1980’s. It is our opinion that the uplisting is due to increased knowledge rather than increased risk of extinction. We believe the turtle’s future is more favourable as more people are involved in caring for its habitat and research findings are now incorporated into local water resource planning and community biodiversity recovery actions. Let’s therefore live in hope that it is not all doom and gloom for our “bum breathing” Mary River turtle.
An in-depth article was published in The Conversation on May 8, 2024 “Saving the Mary River turtle: how the people of Tiaro rallied behind an iconic species.
For more information, visit Tiaro Landcare’s website at https://www.tiarolandcare.org.au/maryriverturtle/about-mrt/
Marilyn Connell, Project Leader, Tiaro Landcare