Posted under Conservation
Elseya irwini, named after the Crocodile Hunter and his father Bob, is one of the largest freshwater turtles in Australia and can weigh around 6kg. It’s also colourful, with a yellowish head, pink nose and blue-grey eyes.
Irwin and his father found the turtle on a family camp in 1990 after Bob Irwin hooked the animal on a fishing line. They took photos and later handed them to a turtle expert who confirmed it as a new species - but only after the death of Steve Irwin while filming on the Great Barrier Reef on September 4, 2006. Elseya irwini only lives in the Broken-Bowen River system and in the lower Burdekin River.
Ecologist Dr Ivan Lawler, from James Cook University’s School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, said research suggested the species could now be endangered. “My best guess is there are only 4000 to 5000 in the wild,” Dr Lawler said today.
He said researchers from the university had caught 82 turtles but only five had been juveniles. “The population structure is a real problem because if you don’t have more juveniles coming in when this generation of adults dies, there’s very little to replace them,” he said.
Another unusual finding had been the lack of males in the population, he said. “Of the 77 adults we’ve found, only five have been male,” Dr Lawler said. “This is the most female-biased turtle population of which we know.” But researchers were at a loss to explain why, he said.
The group of turtles which Elseya irwini belonged to was unique because of the way they could breathe under water. “They can breathe underwater by taking water into their cloaca or bum,” Dr Lawler said. “They have a chamber with gill-like structures to extract oxygen and this enables them to stay underwater for long periods without taking a breath.”