Upon seeing the incredibly unique Mary River Turtle for the first time, my heart soared.
It’s got neon-green “hair”, which is actually algae that grows upwards to resemble a mohawk. It breathes through organs found within its cloaca (aka reptile genitals).
It deserves the world, but clearly, we do not deserve it.
It is also the real-life equivalent of Iggy, my new favourite spawn of Bowser. (Image: Nintendo)
Today, the Mary River turtle was announced one of the most endangered species we have.
Only found within Queensland‘s Mary River, the turtle has unfortunately landed on a new list of vulnerable reptiles created by the Zoological Society of London (and backed up by a study in research journal PLOS), as reported by The Guardian.
The list, which ranks reptiles based off combinations of their extinction potential and bat-shit genetic uniqueness, has placed the turtle at #29.
That’s partly because of our proclivity to keep them as pets back in the 1960s and 1970s. Back then, we didn’t recognise the Mary River turtle as its own species, so many Aussies didn’t hold back when capturing them: dams created to collect eggs have really hurt the species’ breeding habits.
It doesn’t help that these turtles don’t breed they’re 25 years old.
As a silver lining, the Society note that there’s currently an adequate conservation programme in place, though more work needs to be done.
The top three reptiles were the Madagascar big-headed turtle, the Central American river turtle, and the Madagascar blind snake. Unfortunately for the snake, it may be one of the ugliest animals I’ve ever seen. But it’s been around since the last days of the dinosaur-featuring mesozoic era, 65 million years ago.
For more Fun Endangered Reptile Facts, head over to the Society’s list here.
Source: The Guardian
Image credit: Chris Van Wyk
