TSATURTLE SURVIVAL ALLIANCE AUGUST 2008 An IUCN Partnership Network for Sustainable Captive Management of Freshwater Turtles & Tortoises — www.TurtleSurvival.org N O MANS L A H K ITC M GIANT YANGTZE SOFTSHELL TURTLE, RAFETUS SWINHOEI (SEE ARTICLE P. 4) 1 From the TSA Co-Chairs As you read this eighth edition of the TSA newsletter, reflect back on how far this publication has come since 2001. It’s difficult to continue to call this a newsletter. Perhaps TSA magazine or annual report would be a better name. Regardless, we hope you like the new polished format and appreciate the extra pages. Putting this publication together takes more and more effort every year, and that is certainly a positive reflection on the growth of our organization. We have a lot going on around the globe, and our reputation for doing good turtle conservation work continues to grow. The TSA is becoming well known for taking decisive conservation action and being unafraid to take risks when situ- ations warrant. There can be no better example of this than our top story for 2008--the historic attempt to breed the last two Yangtze giant softshell turtles, Rafetus swinhoei, in China. Under the able leadership of Dr.Gerald Kuchling, and with superb support and assistance from Lu Shunquing of WCS-China, an agreement was reached to unite the only known living female Rafetus at Changsha Zoo with an ancient male at Suzhou Zoo. At least three workshops were held to reach this agreement. But once this happened, TSA began to raise funds in anticipation of an event we knew would be expensive, high profile, and risky. Our only comfort was the realization that doing nothing was riskier. By April 2008, all the preparations had been made, the final pieces were in place, and Team Rafetus arrived in China the first week of May. China Girl was transported more than 600 miles by van to Suzhou, and within two days, the Team was reporting exciting signs of interactions. On Day 3, an attempted breeding was witnessed, and remarkably, just weeks later, the female nested, depositing 45 eggs. More and more, this event looks like something that was just meant to be, and if we are successful, it will be a lasting tribute to the careers of all involved. It will certainly be recorded as TSA’s proudest moment, so far. Our programs in India and Myanmar continue to gain traction and attract the attention of the donor community, which reflects well on the success of those efforts. In addition to Batchelor Foundation funding for both of those programs in 2007, we received significant grants from the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund (India), the Beneficia Foundation (India), Natures Own (India), and the British Chelonia Group (India and Burma). In 2008, we kicked off a Madagascar program with funding from Batchelor Foundation and Natures Own, targeting two critically endangered endemic tortoises, the phoughshare and the spider tortoise. Also in 2008, we are coordinating a TSA-specific version of the Asian Scholarship Program. Targeting biologists who are actually working on TSA programs in range countries, this opportunity is designed to provide training in skills better suited to the work they do. This summer, two colleagues from the WCS-Myanmar turtle conservation program, Khin Myo Myo and Kyaw Moe, are in the U.S. undergoing a broad range of training opportunities that will conclude at the annual conference in Tucson. We are making a serious effort to communicate more effectively with the TSA membership, and the new E-newsletter has become an effective vehicle for getting our message out and keeping you up to date on all that is going on. We were skeptical that there would be enough material to report every two weeks, but surprisingly we have not had a problem finding content. Our ultimate goal is to make the TSA web site the place to go for turtle and tortoise conservation news. We hope you are finding both beneficial. Thanks to Sandy Binns for her tireless work in keeping them timely. As we write this, plans for the Sixth Annual Symposium on Conservation and Biology of Tortoises and Freshwater Turtles are in full swing, as we return to the West in 2008, to Tucson, Arizona. This will be our third conference held in conjunction with the IUCN Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group, and it has already become the world’s largest gathering of non-marine turtle folks. We owe special thanks again this year to TSA Conference chairman Lonnie McCaskill for another great, repeat performance to pull this event together (with the enthusiastic support of the Tucson Convention and Visitors Bureau), and to Program chairman Don Boyer who, with the various session chairs, has organized an outstanding conference program. To our many conference supporters and volunteers who help to make this event special, we sincerely thank you. Finally we pause to reflect on the strength of the TSA and what keeps this organization at the forefront of turtle conservation. We continue to believe that our core strength comes from the partnerships that have always been our foundation. However, there is something less tangible that unites us and keeps us motivated. Recognizing that the turtle conservation community is composed of many strong and dominant per- sonalities who are bound to clash from time to time, we believe it is our shared vision that allows us to put those differences aside and move on together for the greater good--the greater good being turtle and tortoise conservation. Together, we can and must put our passion for turtles to work for their survival. Rick Hudson and Dwight Lawson Co-Chairs, Turtle Survival Alliance 2 AUGUST 2008 TURTLE SURVIVAL ALLIANCE In This Issue FEATURES 4 Cover Story 8 Membership TURTLE SURVIVAL 10 Animal Management and Husbandry ALLIANCE BOARD 12 • Significant Breedings 16 • Short Husbandry Articles Rick Hudson 18 • Behler Chelonian Conservation Center Co-Chair Executive Committee 20 • Maintaining Giant Asian Softshells in Captivity TSA US Co-Chair 22 TSA Europe Dwight Lawson Co-Chair Executive Committee RANGE COUNTRY PROGRAMS TSA US Co-Chair 26 India Kevin Buley 36 Madagascar Executive Committee TSA Europe Vice-Chair 43 Cambodia 44 Vietnam Hans Dieter Philippen 46 Mauritis Executive Committee 48 Myanmar TSA Europe Vice-Chair Hank Zwartepoorte EXCLUSIVES, NEWS, & ANNOUNCEMENTS Executive Committee TSA Europe Chair 52 A Taste of Thai Anders Rhodin 52 1st TSA Training Scholarship Program Ex-officio Executive Committee 53 Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund Hero Award IUCN TFTSG Chair 55 British Chelonia Group U.S. Steering Committee 56 The Turtle Conservation Fund Sheri Ashley 59 Nature's Own Sandra Binns 60 Donor Recognition Don Boyer Kurt Buhlmann Andy Daneault Scott Davis Orlando Diaz-Figueroa For membership information, or to contact the TSA please visit: www. Ray Farrell TurtleSurvival.org Or send your correspondence to: Turtle Survival Alliance 1989 Greg Fleming Colonial Parkway, Fort Worth TX 76110 Greg George Cris Hagen Brian Horne Heather Lowe Lonnie McCaskill Bill Ninesling Hugh Quinn Sam Rivera Chuck Schaffer Paul vander Schouw Darrell Senneke Brett Stearns Chris Tabaka Bill Zeigler E AUGUST 2008 TSA NEWSLETTER © 2008 TSA RN . HO D DESIGN & LAYOUT: JOHN BINNS WWW.IRCF.ORG 48 INTErnatiONAL REPTILE CONSERVatiON FOundatiON BRIAN TURTLE SURVIVAL ALLIANCE AUGUST 2008 3 Cover Story Historic Efforts to Save the World’s Rarest Turtle Gerald Kuchling t the TSA conference in 2005, Dr. APeter Pritchard reported that five live specimens of Rafetus swinhoei were known to exist in Chinese institutions. Since then, the specimen at Beijing Zoo died in late 2005 and the one at Shanghai Zoo died in late 2006. Fortunately, following a TSA-sponsored workshop in January 2007, Dr. Lu Shunqing and I identified an additional live female Rafetus swinhoei at Changsha Zoo. It was obvious that captive breeding had to be tried, but none of the three Chinese institutions then holding Rafetus were willing to offer their animal for a breeding loan (see TSA Newsletter August 2007). Instead, in 2007 an agreement was reached, signed, and stamped by Changsha Zoo, Suzhou Zoo, and WCS- G China to perform artificial insemination in IN order to try to propagate the last individuals. HL KUC D In the meantime, the last remaining specimen L RA of Rafetus in the West Garden Buddhist E G Temple in Suzhou died in August 2007 (the Female Rafetus basking comfortably at theSuzhou Zoo, China. purported second Rafetus there has not been seen for many years). Suddenly, only two old individuals were left—both in Chinese institutions. following electro-ejaculation to collect his means seemed out of reach. The Chinese side The situation captured the attention of the sperm for artificial insemination, is still living considered natural breeding too risky, and TSA media, and in early December 2007, Jim memory. That species has not been bred in threatened to pull out of the project if artificial Yardley reported in the New York Times that the United States since then. insemination was tried prior to an attempt the world’s last known female Yangtze giant at natural mating. However, for natural softshell turtle was living in one Chinese zoo, The very last male Rafetus in China was breeding attempts, TSA offered to fund the while the only known male in China was not a sound candidate to un-earth and try necessary modifications of a pond at Suzhou living in another—and this aging pair was this procedure. On the other hand, to use Zoo, to organize and pay for the transport of the last hope of saving the largest freshwater the Suzhou male for natural mating and the female from Changsha to Suzhou (about turtle in the world.