Turtles on the Brink in Madagascar: Proceedings of Two Workshops on the Status, Conservation, and Biology of Malagasy Tortoises and Freshwater Turtles

Turtles on the Brink in Madagascar: 

Proceedings of Two Workshops on the Status, Conservation, and Biology 

of Malagasy Tortoises and Freshwater Turtles

Christina M. Castellano, Anders G.J. Rhodin, Michael Ogle, Russell A. Mittermeier, 

Herilala Randriamahazo, Rick Hudson, and Richard E. Lewis, Eds.

Chelonian Research Monographs (ISSN 1088-7105) No. 6

doi: 10.3854/crm.6 • © 2013 by Chelonian Research Foundation

Lunenburg, MA, USA • Published Online 30 October 2013

 To order a printed copy or a high-res pdf version go to. Also a low res copy (pdf file is downloadable at that side for free, http://www.chelonian.org/crm-6/

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Introduction: Turtles on the Brink in Madagascar.

    Christina M. Castellano, Anders G.J. Rhodin, Michael Ogle, 

    Russell A. Mittermeier, Herilala Randriamahazo, Rick Hudson, and Richard E. Lewis    11

Madagascar: island continent of tortoises great and small.

    Peter C.H. Pritchard.    17

The tortoises and freshwater turtles of Madagascar in the context of biodiversity conservation 

in the Madagascar Hotspot.

    Russell A. Mittermeier, Peter Paul van Dijk, Anders G.J. Rhodin, and Stephen D. Nash.    25

IUCN RED LISTING WORKSHOP

Turtles on the Brink in Madagascar: an IUCN Red Listing assessment workshop.

    Peter Paul van Dijk, Thomas E.J. Leuteritz, Anders G.J. Rhodin, 

    Russell A. Mittermeier, and Herilala Randriamahazo.    33

Vision sokatra gasy—Madagascar turtle vision.

    (Reprint from 2008 Turtle and Tortoise Newsletter)

    Russell A. Mittermeier, Anders G.J. Rhodin, Herilala Randriamahazo, Richard E. Lewis, 

    Peter  Paul van Dijk, Rick Hudson, and Sébastien Rioux Paquette.    37

Madagascar turtles and tortoises in CITES.

    Thomas E.J. Leuteritz and Peter Paul van Dijk.    40

IUCN RED LIST ASSESSMENTS

(Reprints from 2008 IUCN Red List, www.iucnredlist.org)

Astrochelys radiata. Thomas E.J. Leuteritz and Sébastien Rioux Paquette    44

Astrochelys yniphora. Thomas E.J. Leuteritz and Miguel Pedrono    47

Pyxis arachnoides. Thomas E.J. Leuteritz and Ryan C.J. Walker    50

Pyxis planicauda. Thomas E.J. Leuteritz, Herilala Randriamahazo, and Richard E. Lewis    53

Erymnochelys madagascariensis. Thomas E.J. Leuteritz, Gerald Kuchling, 

    Gerardo Garcia, and Juliette Velosoa    56

CONSERVATION AND BIOLOGY

Overview of the natural history of Madagascar’s endemic tortoises and freshwater turtles: 

essential components for effective conservation.

    Miguel Pedrono and Lora L. Smith.    59

Troubled times for the Radiated Tortoise (Astrochelys radiata).

    Rick Hudson.    67

Long-term monitoring and impacts of human harvest on the Radiated Tortoise 

(Astrochelys radiata).

    Christina M. Castellano, J. Sean Doody, Riana Rakotondrainy, 

    William Ronto Mananjara, Tantelinirina Rakotondriamanga, 

    Julio Duchene, and Zigzag Randria.    75

Decline in the range and population density of Radiated Tortoises, Astrochelys radiata, in 

southern Madagascar.

    Tsilavo H. Rafeliarisoa, Ryan C.J. Walker, and Edward E. Louis, Jr.    86

The SOKAKE Project: conservation of Astrochelys radiata in southern Madagascar.

    Bernard Devaux.    93

Community outreach and education promoting the conservation of the Radiated Tortoise, 

Astrochelys radiata, in Lavavolo, Madagascar.

    Susie McGuire, Tsilavo H. Rafeliarisoa, Herilalaina Randriamanantenasoa, 

    Veloarivony R.A. Randrianindrina, Gary D. Shore, and Edward E. Louis, Jr.    97

Sexual dimorphism in Radiated Tortoises (Astrochelys radiata).

    Thomas E.J. Leuteritz and Donald T. Gantz.    105

Endoscopic imaging of gonads, sex ratio, and temperature-dependent sex determination in 

juvenile captive-bred Radiated Tortoises, Astrochelys radiata.

    Gerald Kuchling, Eric V. Goode, and Peter Praschag.    113

Do bigger females produce bigger eggs? The influence of female body mass on egg mass 

in Astrochelys radiata.

    Jutta M. Hammer.    119

Illegal poaching of Radiated Tortoises, Astrochelys radiata, in arid southern Madagascar: 

contributing factors, conservation initiatives, critical challenges, and potential solutions.

    Tiana A. Ramahaleo and Malika Virah-Sawmy.    124

Repatriated Malagasy tortoises contribute to their survival.

    Léon A. Razafindrakoto.    132

Conservation of the Madagascar Spider Tortoise (Pyxis arachnoides) amid changing land 

use policy: assessing the spatial coincidence of relict populations with protected areas and 

mining concessions.

    Ryan C.J. Walker, Charlie J. Gardner, Tsilavo H. Rafeliarisoa, Inge Smith, 

    Richard Razafimanatsoa, and Edward E. Louis, Jr.    135

Ecological husbandry and reproduction of the Madagascar Spider (Pyxis arachnoides) 

and Flat-tailed (Pyxis planicauda) Tortoises.

    Daniel W. Pearson.    146

Proposed action plan for the conservation of the Madagascar Spider Tortoise, 

Pyxis arachnoides.

    Ryan C.J. Walker, Christina M. Castellano, Michael Ogle, Tsilavo H. Rafeliarisoa, 

    Riana Rakotondrainy, Tiana A. Ramahaleo, Herilala Randriamahazo, 

    and Charlie J. Gardner.    153

Conservation of the Angonoka (Ploughshare Tortoise), Astrochelys yniphora.

    A. Ross Kiester, Angelo R. Mandimbihasina, Richard E. Lewis, Eric V. Goode, 

    James O. Juvik, Richard Young, and Torsten Blanck.    162

An integrated research, management, and community conservation program for the Rere 

(Madagascar Big-headed Turtle), Erymnochelys madagascariensis.

    Juliette Velosoa, Lance Woolaver, Randriamahita, Ernest Bekarany, 

    Floriot Randrianarimangason, Richard Mozavelo, Gerardo Garcia, and Richard E. Lewis.    171

Tortoise breeding and ‘re-wilding’ on Rodrigues Island.

    Owen Griffiths, Aurele Andre, and Arnaud Meunier.    178

TURTLE POETRY

Ancient chelonians.

    (Reprint from 1999 Chelonian Conservation and Biology)

    Anders G.J. Rhodin.    184

NEW TURTLE BOOK: Life in a Shell: A Physiologist's View of a Turtle

Life in a Shell: A Physiologist's View of a Turtle (Hardcover), Donald C. Jackson, 192 pages, Harvard University Press, $29.95 plus $6.00 S&H

Product Description

Trundling along in essentially the same form for some 220 million years, turtles have seen dinosaurs come and go, mammals emerge, and humankind expand its dominion. Is it any wonder the persistent reptile bested the hare? In this engaging book physiologist Donald Jackson shares a lifetime of observation of this curious creature, allowing us a look under the shell of an animal at once so familiar and so strange.

Here we discover how the turtle's proverbial slowness helps it survive a long, cold winter under ice. How the shell not only serves as a protective home but also influences such essential functions as buoyancy control, breathing, and surviving remarkably long periods without oxygen, and how many other physiological features help define this unique animal. Jackson offers insight into what exactly it's like to live inside a shell-to carry the heavy carapace on land and in water, to breathe without an expandable ribcage, to have sex with all that body armor intervening.

Along the way we also learn something about the process of scientific discovery-how the answer to one question leads to new questions, how a chance observation can change the direction of study, and above all how new research always builds on the previous work of others. A clear and informative exposition of physiological concepts using the turtle as a model organism, the book is as interesting for what it tells us about scientific investigation as it is for its deep and detailed understanding of how the enduring turtle "works."

About the Author

Donald C. Jackson is Professor Emeritus of Medical Science, Brown University.
REMEMBER All Proceeds Go to HerpDigest.org: The Only Free Weekly E-zine Which Reports on the Latest Reptile and Amphibian Science and Conservation News. A non-profit corporation.

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TURTLE HOAX

http://www.hoax-slayer.com/costa-rica-turtle-eggs.shtml

There is something particularly fortean about hoaxes. Many people with an interest in the natural world received an email recently that purported to show Costa Rican people robbing turtle nests of eggs and behaving in an environmentally despicable manner. It was all a hoax. read on

RICHARD FREEMAN: Giant turtles

Following on from Richard Muirhead's excellent discovery of a giant turtle from Cheung Chau, posted yesterday here are a relevant excerpt from my yokai book:

Minogame
Minogame is a ten thousand year old turtle. It has long strands of weed and alga growing from the back of it’s shell to symbolize old age. The name means ‘straw turtle’ as the growth of weed resembles a straw raincoat. In reality many species of turtle have weeds growing on their shells. In some cases this enhances their camouflage.

The best known story about Ryūjin, the Dragon King, is that of Urashima Taro. Urashima was a fisherman. One day he caught a large turtle in his nets. The turtle was a symbol of old age and thus much respected. Urashima let the animal free.

To his amazment the turtle transformed into a lovely young woman. She explained that she was the daughter of Ryūjin the dragon god. She casts a spell on the fisherman enabling him to breath underwater then invites him to Ryūgū-jō.

Urashima was amazed by the vast underwater palace of coral and crystal but even more so by Ryūjin himself. The mighty dragon god’s coils were thousands of feet long and glittered with scales of every imaginable shade of green, aquamarine, turquoise, and blue. His head was crowned with branching antlers and his teeth were as long as scythes. Despite his daunting appearance the god had a kindly look in his eyes and took a liking to Urashima. He allowed him to marry his beautiful daughter and live in the splendid palace

For a while Urashima was happy but then he began to miss his land home and his parents. He was worried that they had no one to care for them in their advancing years. His bride accepted the situation and allowed him to return to the land so long as he promised to come back to her. The fisherman loved his bride and promised that he would indeed return.

Before he left she gave him a small laqured box tied up with cord and told him to never open it. If he did he would never see her again. Once again he gave his word. In her turtle form his wife escorted Urashima back to land.

Once ashore Urashima noticed that something was wrong. The surrounding mountains looked the same but the village was larger and looked very different. All the villagers were strangers. Looking around he saw no one he recognized. He hurried to his old home and found it to be nothing but a pile of rubble. Beside himself with worry he asked around about the people who had live in house and what had become of them. One very old man vaugly recalled a story of an elderly couple whose son had been a fisherman lost at sea. The story was supposed to have occurred 400 years ago!

It dawned on Urashima that time was not measures in the kingdom of the dragon god as it was on land. For every day he spent in Ryūgū-jō many mortal years had passed on land.

Perhapse hoping to find an answer to his awful situation he foolishly opened the box. A wisp if smoke rose up from inside it. This was time catching up with him. His hair grew white then fell out. His eyes dimmed, his bones grew frail. His skin wrinkled and sagged. His body dessicated as time sucked the life out of him. Later the villagers discovered the dried out husk of a man clutching a laquered box.

The date of Urishima’s fishing trip was around AD 478 and his return at around AD 825.

ANOTHER GIANT TESTUDINE FROM MUIRHEAD

MUIRHEAD`S MYSTERIES: ANOTHER GIANT TURTLE IN THE U.S.A

A few days ago you may remember I presented information about a very large turtle in a U. S. lake, namely, The Beast of Busco. Well, today I turn to a similar turtle, this time in a lake in Illinois, namely Island Lake quite near Chicago. This latter one was even thought to be a killer.

I found this brief story in Omni magazine, the now defunct U. S. science fiction, fantasy and paranormal magazine. Unfortunately I do not know the exact date; probably some time in the mid to late 1990s, though it was in August. There is a link on the Web to some of the archives at:

http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.omnimag.com/

'the links past Jul 21, 2003 will go to Penthouse magazine instead,but most of them are web-archived Omni pages, including chats, short stories, and articles.' (1)

'OMNI was a science magazine and science fiction magazine published in the U. S. A. It contained articles on science fact and short works of science fiction. The first issue was published in October 1978, the last in Winter 1995, with an internet version lasting until 1998.' (2)

The story is as follows: 'MOBY TURTLE. Move over Nessie. Recent reports tell of a giant killer turtle living in Island Lake, Illinois, some 40 miles north-west of Chicago. It all started about a year ago, when resident Liz Herman spotted two large snapping turtles mating in the water just beyond her back-yard sea wall.

'"These turtles were huge, maybe three feet long" says Herman. "My husband Kevin didn`t believe me until he saw my photos. Then he showed them around town." "Soon rumors [sic]were flying." says Georgine Cooper, a town trustee. "The turtle was said to be anywhere from the size of a small pickup truck to an 18-wheel semi." "Our Water Department supervisor, Neil De Young, tried to catch the turtle," adds local police chief Eugene Bach." All he got for his trouble was bent hooks."

'Bach refuses to fuel the killer-turtle rumours. In fact, he thinks the turtle may be an alligator snapper released into the lake some years ago by a local boy." Alligator snappers, he says, "can grow to more than 60 pounds and can be 25 inches long. Listen," he adds, "I could tell you that when kids hang their feet over the pier they get chewed up, but that wouldn`t be true." (3)

There is a headline in the text which says, in capital letters: 'The Giant Turtle, Referred to as a man-eating terror, has generated national tabloid headlines and has even been profiled on local Chicago news stations.' (4)

1. Omni (magazine) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omni_(magazine)
2. Ibid
3. Moby Turtle. Omni. August?p.72
4. Ibid.p.72

Neil Young Heart of Gold

I`ve been to Redwood
I`ve been to Holywood
I`ve crossed the ocean
for a heart of gold
I`ve been in my mind
It`s such a fine line
That keeps me searching for a heart of gold
And I`m getting old

TURTLES IN TRANSIT

I don't want to keep on banging on about how little money we have at the moment because it would be both boring and vulgar. There is nothing worse than someone who voluntarily does something for nothing, like I do the bloggo each day, trying to use emotional blackmail to squeeze cash out of his readers.

However, I think that I should tell you that as part of our economy measures we are downsizing those parts of the CFZ animal collection that are most expensive to maintain during the winter months, and that also, frankly, have little or no relevance to the main body of work that we do.

The two map turtles, and Myrtle the Chinese box turtle who has been with us since 2001, have gone to live with Helen Taylor, CFZ Stalwart, Housekeeper and mum of aspiring film star Emily (of Emily and the Big Cats).

She has more time to make a fuss over them than we do, and is lavishing them with love and affection. She will be bringing them back for CFZ Open Days, so they are still part of the family.

TERATOLOGY: STRANGE HALVED TURTLE

What is it with Fleurie and lusus naturae?

Once again it was Fleur who pointed this one out. She sent me the link at the bottom of this page purely because she knows that I am fond of turtles. However, have a butchers at this one. It is priced at two hundred bucks, which is not particularly steep for a creature like this. The website blurb reads:

This one of a kind turtle hatched with a color anomaly like no other... It's entire right side is very dark with lots of black coloration. The same for its feet and right side of it's head. The left side is light or normally colored.

The left feet, and side of the head are also light, or normally colored.

What triggered this anomaly is possibly a geneticist's dream project... (It calls to mind an episode of the original Star Trek series.) This turtle is 6 weeks old, doing very well and behaves exactly like a normal colored Yellow Bellied Slider.

If it were an insect I would say that it was a halved gynandromorph, but a turtle?

http://www.theturtlesource.com/turtle_subcat.asp?id=125698412

On the Track of Unknown Terrapins

Friday seems to be chelonian day here at the CFZ Bloggo, and so, in order to compliment the charming article by Glen Vaudrey, here is a reprint of an article I wrote for Fortean Times nearly six years ago....

The late great Bernard Heuvelmans once wrote that "there are lost worlds everywhere ". It is a dictum which has been quoted many times in the last 40 years by cryptozoologists who are determined to prove that many species of new animals still remain to be discovered. It is, of course, true. A multinational marine census which hopes to catalogue all the animals and plants in the world's oceans recently announced that they are discovering an average of three new fish species a week. Even the Zoology of the British Isles - arguably the most well explored place on the planet is in a continual state of flux. Within the last year or so it has been proved that at least two new species of reptiles and amphibians - the pool frog, and the European green lizard are indeed British residents. A fascinating article in the the Herpetological Review even suggests that there may be up to seven taxa of European water frog resident in the UK. It is probable that these are mostly introductions - but in the light of recent discoveries it would, in my opinion at least, be unwise to reject the possibility that at least some of these may well be native to Britain.

However, to return to Heuvelmans's dictum. Unknown animals can indeed be found anywhere, but it I feel that it was very unlikely that when the "father of cryptozoology" made the statement are that he realised that some 40 years later there would be a pair of a bona fide species of unknown animal residing in a home-made garden shed tacked onto the back of a mid-terrace house in Exeter.

In the 12 years that I have been running the Centre for Fortean Zoology I have carried out many investigations into strange, and bizarre creatures. However, I have to admit that many of the higher profile investigations that we have done - and especially many of the TV programmes which we have made about the more media-friendly cryptids such as Bigfoot, the Loch Ness monster et al - have been done purely to finance some of the projects which are closer to my heart involving smaller and ( in the public's eyes at least), less interesting animals.

In the early summer, whilst Richard was tramping around the jungles of Sumatra in search of the Orang-Pendek, I had a telephone call from my old friend and colleague Darren Naish. He told me that the university department where he worked had become a home for a number of terrapins, including two which nobody had been able to identify. Would we, be interested in taking them on? Since my youngest days I have been fascinated by aquatic reptiles. The CFZ is home to various of these creatures and I'm always happy to take more. A few weeks later Darren and his boss arrived for lunch, and with them came the three large turtles. The female - called Gladys - is a very large red eared terrapin. These animals have been commonly kept as pets for over 50 years, and while I am very fond of them (and am quite happy to have another one in my collection), her only Fortean significance is that she is a fine example of the species which since the craze for such things which surrounded the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle" movie about 13 years ago has become naturalised in various parts of the UK.

The other two turtles are something else entirely. Both males, Cuthbert and Spots ( no we ain't responsible for the names), appear to be members of the same species. Nobody - not even the keen herpetologists who work and live at the CFZ, nor any of the Zoologists who have visited us in the last six months I able to identify them.

They are particularly attractive looking reptiles. They have broad, flat, heads covered in a striking pattern of grey and brown spots. Both of them have a tendency to turn pink on various occasions. When Cuthbert first exhibited this propensity we panicked. When a semi aquatic turtle wayward turns pink it usually means that it is suffering from serious blood poisoning. We rushed him down to a friendly neighbourhood vet who gave him a course of antibiotic injections, and told us to keep him segregated from the others. This we did, and to our great delight he slowly recovered his normal coloration and carried on eating heartily. A week later he did exactly the same thing again.

They have now been living with us for nearly six months. Spots has exhibited courtship behaviour with Gladys on several occasions and has also become very territorial, forcing Cuthbert out of the water whenever he feels horny. We still have no idea what they are, which is why we have prevailed upon FT to print this peice for us. From the configurations of on their shells and plastrons they appear to be Emydids - from the same family as Gladys and all the other North American fresh water terrapins. However, they don't look reminiscent of any of the known species. Their provenance is very murky indeed. Together with Gladys they were donated to Portsmouth University when they outgrew their homes in suburbia. Because all three turtles are roughly the same size it is - I feel - reasonably safe to assume that they were purchased at the same time, probably from a pet shop. However there is no way of finding out for sure.

They may, of course be either a rare colour morph of the red eared terrapin, or they may be a hybrid which has hitherto been unknown to science. I feel, that because the two unknown animals are so similar that a hybrid is unlikely. However, it is not impossible. Over the past 30 years or so, a large proportion of the red eared terrapins which have been imported into the UK have come from farms in Singapore, the Philippines and Hong Kong. It is not impossible that - if these are hybrids - that they are a hybrid between the red eared terrapin and some Asian species. However, I feel that this is highly unlikely. The best prognosis - in my opinion at least - is that they are either a hitherto unknown North American species, or an Asian species which merely looks like its distant cousins from the New World.

The Centre for Fortean Zoology has never been about trying to prove any theory. Our job is to find out the truth - however prosaic it turns out to be. I am hoping that somebody reading this article will recognise the pictures and be able to tell us what species Cuthbert and Spots actually are. If we have been completely dumb and that they are obviously members of a well known species I apologise to everyone out there in Forteanaland for having wasted their time. If not, then any suggestions from anyone about how we can resolve this mystery will be gratefully appreciated.

To bring the story up to date, "Spots" died in 2004, but Cuthbert and Gladys are now living in their winter quarters - a heated tank in the CFZ Museum. However, this very afternoon I have to go into Bideford for a diabetic eye test, and on the way home Graham and I are going to look at an old cast iron bath which we have been donated. If it proves suitable, it will be manhandled back to Woolsery, and converted into a turtle pond - summer quarters for Gladys and Cuthbert, and our two newly acquired map turtles.

But the main crux of the article remains. What the heck is Cuthbert?