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https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/apr/11/every-year-matters-queenslands-critically-endangered-bum-breathing-turtle-battles-the-odds>
"A rare “bum-breathing” turtle found in a single river system in Queensland has
suffered one of its worst breeding seasons on record due to flooding last
December. It has prompted volunteers to question how many more “bad years” the
species can survive.
A freshwater species that breathes by absorbing oxygen through gill-like
structures in its tail, the Mary River turtle is endemic to south-east
Queensland. Its population has fallen by more than 80% since the 1960s and its
conservation status was upgraded from endangered to critically endangered last
year.
Volunteers have worked for more than two decades at Tiaro, about 200km north of
Brisbane, to save the species. The Mary River typically flows low at the start
of summer – about 2 metres deep. But when
Guardian Australia visited in
December, it had surged above 10 metres after unusually heavy rain.
The result was the number of nests on the riverbanks – and the number of
hatchlings that survived – was one of the lowest in the conservation program’s
24-year history. Seventeen nests, known as clutches, were laid during the
season. Usually 30 to 40 are expected during the turtle’s breeding months of
October, November and December.
Eggs in nine clutches hatched successfully but eight were lost to flood waters.
The head of the conservation effort and Tiaro Landcare project leader, Marilyn
Connell, said the Mary River turtle already had “lots of things going against
it, making it difficult to recover”.
“You sort of can’t believe it,” she said. “We felt despondent.”
The volunteers made the difficult decision to intervene and move two nests
higher up the riverbanks. One of these survived the flood waters."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
