Turtle hatchlings arrive for Christmas

Aussie Ark’s Conservation Ark facility, located on the grounds of the Australian Reptile Park at Somersby, has announced the successful laying of a batch endangered Manning River Turtles.

The facility hosts the largest captive breeding program of the turtle species in the world.

Four Manning River Turtle females were confirmed as ‘gravid’ (egg bearing) approximately a month ago, after breeding was witnessed and announced in May.

Aussie Ark has been breeding and rewilding the species since the Black Summer fires of 2019 when the organisation famously saved animals and retrieved wild eggs, which would have otherwise perished in the extreme drought and fire conditions.

Last year the organisation returned 10 of this cohort back into the Manning River, which was a world-first wild release of the species.

That was an exciting milestone for Conservation Ark – but the laying of the eggs is even more exciting.

Conservation Manager Hayley Shute and Operations Manager Billy Collett have managed the turtle program since its inception and were “shaking with excitement” as they discovered the eggs.

“There is so much work and expertise leading to this moment; specialist food, water monitoring, and the construction of favoured nest sites,” Shute said.

“We’ve been checking our females day and night, and over the past week the high humidity, rain and heat have been perfect turtle laying weather.

“And they did it! We did it! It’s amazing!”

Shute said finding the eggs was like finding presents left by Santa under the tree.

Collett agreed.

“I just can’t describe it,” he said.

“I’m so proud of the team, and I cannot wait for the day when I take one of these babies back into the wild and release them.

“This is full circle conservation; it doesn’t get any better than this!”

The first Manning River Turtle female to lay produced 12 eggs.

To safeguard them, Shute and Collett transferred them into an incubator at Conservation Ark where temperature and humidity can be kept stable for maximum hatching success.

The eggs will hatch in approximately two months, and the youngsters will be cared for at Conservation Ark for a year before being released into the wild.

As its name suggests, the native reptilian species is endemic to the Manning River.

The greatest threat to the species is feral predation with foxes and pigs decimating their nest sites.

Numbers have plummeted causing them to be critically endangered, and intervention like this is the only thing between them and extinction.

To assist Aussie Ark in its vital work donate at aussieark.org.au