| |
 |
| |
A close-up of a
30-kilogramme female Batagur adult in captivity awaiting
release. |
Story by WANNAPA ANUCHON
Pictures by ALLAN MICHAUD
It was the beginning of the
wet season when I joined Cambodian herpetologist Heng Sovannara on
his journey to Sre Ambel in southern Cambodia. For the past five
months, he and his staff of rangers, taken from local hunters and
fishermen, had been protecting several nests of the Batagur baska
or mangrove terrapin.
In Cambodia, the species is called the royal turtle, due to the
fact that their eggs are considered a great delicacy and in years
gone by were collected by locals for kings. In the past these
turtles were protected to some extent by a royal decree making it
illegal to kill them _ anyone doing so was severely punished.
Sadly, however, today they are just seen as a source of food or an
opportunity to earn some money in the market, where turtle meat
can fetch around 2,000 riel (roughly 20 baht) a kilo. As a result,
the species is now on the verge of extinction.
Sovannara works for the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). We
first met two years earlier when I joined him and his mentor Steve
Platt on an expedition to investigate the turtle and crocodile
populations in the southwest of the country.
 |
|
| Nests are fenced to
protect buried eggs from poachers and predators.
|
|
Having thoroughly inspected potential
habitats and interviewed many local fishermen, the researchers
found the situation of the Batagur to be quite appalling. Though
the species was once widespread, it was no longer to be found in
most of the coastal rivers. There were just a handful of suitable
sandbanks for breeding, all of which turned out to be on one river
system.
One of the major problems in saving this species is that, although
long lived, they do not reach breeding age until they are 25 years
old. And from the information gathered over the past few years, it
appears that there may be less than half a dozen breeding females
remaining at present.
As the Batagur females use several different sandbanks on which to
lay their eggs, Sovannara and his staff have had to carefully move
one or two nests to the main site where most of the natural nests
are laid. The only way to successfully protect them is to station
rangers by the beach until they hatch _ this means spending almost
five months in the highly malarial jungle, not a simple task.
Even with a cage built around each nest, the eggs are not
necessarily safe. In addition to poachers, there are several
animals that, given the opportunity, will eat either the eggs or
the hatchlings. Monitor lizards, for instance, are quite adept at
locating and digging up turtle nests and, as the rangers
discovered, fishing cats are also rather partial to the hatchlings
if one is not careful.
Fortunately none were lost this year, but a fishing cat was seen
around the nests on several evenings when they were due to hatch.
Had it not been for the presence of the rangers, it would most
certainly have taken its share of the offspring.
The newborn hatchlings are able to survive in the nest for up to a
month and would normally dig their way out when the rivers begin
to rise, softening the surrounding sand. It is usually quite
obvious when they have hatched as the sand immediately above the
nest sinks, leaving a clear depression. On this occasion,
Sovannara decided to assist them by excavating the nests as they
have been known to become trapped and die when the rains arrive
late.
Of the six nests discovered in 2002, 31 turtles successfully
hatched and were later released. Two of the nests failed, with the
loss of around 20 young Batagurs.
| |
 |
| |
Adults, like this one, are
radio-tagged before they are returned to the wild.
|
This year they were even more successful:
Sovannara and his rangers managed to find and protect seven nests,
which produced a grand total of 59 healthy hatchlings from the 78
eggs laid throughout January.
Just how many of these will make it through to breeding age
remains to be seen.
Apart from their many natural predators, they have several other
obstacles to overcome, such as the numerous fisherman and the old
nets entangled on riverbeds that can become deadly traps.
After being weighed and measured, the hatchlings spent a few days
being looked after by the rangers before their official release.
This involved local officials and hundreds of schoolchildren in an
effort to raise awareness of the situation.
School books bearing a picture of the Batagur were distributed to
the kids, one hope being that they, in turn, will help to educate
their often illiterate parents. Signs were put up at the local
market and along rivers to raise awareness among the locals as to
the decline of the royal turtle and to encourage people to release
any that are caught.
Just before they were set free, the young creatures were injected
with minute microchips that will help to identify individuals that
might be captured in the future. The device should provide
invaluable information over the coming years.
| BATAGUR FACTS |
| The royal turtle can grow
to more than 30 kilogrammes and reach almost one metre in
length. They spend most of their lives in mangrove-lined tidal
estuaries, but have been known to be caught by local fishermen
many kilometres out to sea. During the breeding season both
sexes change colour from grey to black. Adult males are
considerably smaller than the females, easily distinguishable
by their vivid yellow eyes. Egg-bearing females travel many
kilometres upriver to find the ideal sandbank on which to lay
their eggs. There they dig a pit of between one and
one-and-a-half metres in depth, and over a six week period
they can lay two or even three clutches of up to 20 eggs. As
is the case with many reptiles, the older the female, the more
eggs are produced. |
The ceremony also included the release of
three adult turtles that had recently been caught by local
fishermen. These were fitted with larger radio tags in an effort
to gain more information on their habits and to discover the full
extent of their range.
Although already extinct throughout most of Asia, there are
similar conservation efforts taking place in Malaysia and in the
Sundarbuns, bordering India and Bangladesh, where very small
populations also remain. In Malaysia, a captive breeding programme
has been going on since 1968 and many thousands have been released
in an effort to save the species.
Unfortunately the numbers of nests being found in the wild in
Malaysia are falling, largely due to habitat loss caused, in part,
by the building of a new dam, which seems to have wiped out large
areas previously used by these animals for breeding. In 1997 there
were more than 1,300 nests recorded. This figure has since
plummeted and in 2002 a meagre 59 were to be found.
In Thailand there has also been some attempts to release captive
bred hatchlings into the wild, but so far there appears to have
been no success.
Just prior to Christmas 2003, Sovannara and his team received
exciting news from local fishermen of another 10 nests on a
previously unexplored river. They now plan to monitor these
beaches over the 2004 nesting season in an effort to corroborate
this evidence.
It's difficult to predict what the future will bring, but a
release of captive bred turtles here may prove to be more
successful than elsewhere due to the fact that the human
population is still relatively low.
For now, it's important to educate people who live alongside these
animals in the wild. Without their cooperation, there can be no
realistic chance of saving this ancient creature.
