Batagur baska
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 Three terrapins (Batagur baska) from a gazetted conservation site at Pasir Kumpal, Dungun, Terengganu, Malaysia. From top to bottom, roughly, a year old, four and six years old.
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| Batagur baska (Gray, 1831) |
The Batagur baska is a species of river turtle. It is one of the most endangered turtle species according to a 2003 assessment by the IUCN. Batagur baska is a rare and endangered Asian river terrapin also called the "Royal Turtle" in Cambodia because its eggs were a royal delicacy.
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[edit] Description
Carapace moderately depressed, with a vertebral keel in the young, which keel disappears in the adult; nuchal broader than long; first vertebral as broad in front as behind, or a little broader; vertebrals 2 to 4 subequal, much broader than long in the young, nearly as long as broad and as broad as the costals m the adult, the postero-lateral border of the third vertebral strongly concave. Plastron large, strongly angulate laterally in the young, convex in the adult, truncate anteriorly, angularly notched posteriorly; the width of the bridge exceeds the length of the posterior lobe; the longest median suture is that between the abdominals, the shortest that between the gulars, the latter never more than half that between the humerals; inguinal large, axillary smaller. Head rather small; snout pointed, produced, directed upwards; jaws with denticulated edge, upper feebly notched mesially; the width of the lower jaw at the symphysis nearly equals the diameter of the orbit. Limbs with transversely enlarged, band-like scales. Upper surface of shell and soft parts olive-brown, lower surface yellowish. Length of shell 21 inches. [1]
[edit] Distribution
The Batagur is found only in parts of India such as Bengal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, South Vietnam, Malaysia (Perak and Terengganu), Sumatra, Indonesia and Cambodia (Cardamom Mountains), and populations have been sharply declining in recent years.
[edit] Decline
Many Asian turtles are in danger because of the thriving trade in animals in the region, where a species' rarity can add to its value on a menu or as a traditional medicine.
The species was thought to have disappeared in Cambodia until it was rediscovered in 2001. Conservationists eventually began tagging the animals with tracking devices and monitoring their nests, and King Norodom Sihamoni personally ordered their protection.
In Malaysia, rivers of Perak and Terengganu are major nesting grounds though the population is continuing to crash despite conservation effort undertaken by Malaysian Wildlife Department for over 20 years. Pasir Kumpal by Dungun River in Dungun, Terengganu is one of the largest nesting sites for Batagur baska in the world with over one kilometer in length of sandy bank.
[edit] References
- ^ Boulenger, G.A.(1890) Fauna of British India. Reptilia and Batrachia.
- Asian Turtle Trade Working Group (2000). Batagur baska. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 10 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is critically endangered
- Das, Indraneil 1989 Batagur baska in Orissa Hamadryad 14 (1): 2-3
- Gray,J.E. 1857 Notice of some Indian tortoises (including the description of a new species presented to the British Museum by Professor Oldham). Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (2) 19: 342-344
- Platt, S.G.; Bryan L. Stuart; Heng Sovannara; Long Kheng, Kalyar And Heng Kimchhay 2003 Rediscovery of the critically endangered river terrapin, Batagur baska, in Cambodia, with notes on occurrence, reproduction, and conservation status Chelonian Conservation and Biology 4 (3): 691
