SPECIES: Emydura subglobosa subglobosa — Jardine River Turtle
CLASSIFICATION: Critically endangered
The Jardine River Turtle is a creature of quiet waters — a shy, red-tinged glimmer slipping through the tea-brown rivers of northern Cape York. You rarely see more than a ripple or the brief lift of its flushed plastron as it disappears beneath tangled roots and overhanging ferns. Even in places it once seemed reliable, the species has grown harder to find, its habits as hidden as the waterways it inhabits.
Safeguarding its future means protecting intact river corridors, restoring riparian vegetation, and reducing the impacts of altered flows, feral predators and expanding development. With these pressures eased, the Jardine’s slow, dark waterways might once again shelter this remarkable little turtle in greater numbers.
Photo: Rotbauchspitzkopfschildkroete