Conservation Efforts to Protect Endangered Turtles of Sulawesi

Methods

Summary

During our reconnaissance trip to Sulawesi in June 2016, we successfully identified survey sites for both the Forsten's Tortoise and the Sulawesi Forest Turtle and our initial plan is to conduct meandering transects and timed searches in these areas. 

Upon first encounter of a turtle, a small blood sample will be taken, standard morphometrics (weights and measurements) will be recorded, photographs will be taken, and individual marking, including notching and PIT tagging, will be performed. Animal behavior when encountered will also be recorded along with a GPS location, weather conditions and general habitat classification as well as recording demographic information. Care will be taken to minimize handling time and stress to the turtle. 

During surveys in habitat identified for longer-term monitoring (where population densities are high enough to deploy 10-12 transmitters for regular tracking), we will affix transmitters to a subset of encountered animals of equal sex ratios.  These animals will form the initial population for basic ecological and health studies. 

We aim to widely publish and present the results of these studies to help guide conservation efforts in these ecologically-important areas as well as in proposed ex situ conservation efforts.

All of these techniques we have firsthand experience with and have published with them.