Thread by @Herpomania

We have been seeing the devastating news of the last known female #Rafetus swinhoei’s death. While we talk of captive breeding and building assurance colonies, I have a few thoughts. A thread. Disclaimer: This thread is about South Asia and mostly India. #Turtles #Tortoises

South Asian #turtles face extreme threats to their survival because of habitat loss, poaching and uncontrolled hunting. While assurance colonies are important to protect critically endangered species, how much attention are we paying to find out what is their natural history...

What is the ecology of these threatened species? What are we doing to ensure their survival in the wild?

Many freshwater turtles are vulnerable and threatened but more often than not, proposals to study their ecology is rejected because ‘endangered and critically endangered species need more funds than vulnerable species’. Understood. Still...

More than half of the turtle conservation work in South Asia currently is focused on captive specimens. What are we doing to ensure that we have enough information about the natural history and ecology of the species to even begin their work on captive species?

In India, species like Star Tortoise, Spotted Pond Turtle, Indian flapshell #turtle and a few others are heavily traded & yet there are hardly any studies on their ecology! No study on their current population & how this trade is impacting their distribution & population status!

I have submitted proposals to study Indian Star #Tortoise and I have got this answer from many a Funding Agencies and few prominent ‘Turtle Biologists’, I won’t name names here: “Star Tortoise is not Endangered. We can’t fund you”.

Are we waiting for these so called ‘common’ species to become Endangered and then fund their conservation projects?

This is an appeal to the Funding Agencies and people who review turtle proposals. Studying natural history of the species may not be glamorous. You may not be able to say that you “Saved x number of eggs of turtles this year” ...

but its extremely critical to designing a proper management plan to ensure survival of species. Fund natural history studies. Journals, support papers that bring out crucial information on ecology and natural history of the species even if the paper might not have fancy stats!

I have a decent #StarTortoise proposal ready, logistics mostly figured and people willing to work & yet I find it hard to get decent funding because its not ‘Threatened enough’!

We need species information. We need #habitats! Raise all the captive individuals you want, if habitats are not protected, your captive raised individuals are of no use.

Rearing and releasing #turtles into the habitats that do not sustain turtle populations are of no use! No matter how many thousand individuals you release into the wild, if you have no idea what is the ecology of the species, its of no use!

Find out what that species needs to survive. Find out whether those released individuals are even surviving! Fund and encourage indigenous researchers and local NGOs to carry out detailed ecological studies!

Instead of a few White NGOs dominating the narrative, support local organisations and encourage capacity building to sustain their programs. We need more and more #turtle and #tortoise researchers. End.

@herpetALLogy Please help share the thread!