10 Asian Giant Tortoises release into Intanki National Park in Nagaland
First Published: 20th December, 2022 19:40 IST
The species is on the verge of functional extinction due to overexploitation and ignorance
Ten captive-bred juvenile tortoises were gently released into Intanki National Park, inside a protected area in Nagaland, on Monday in an attempt to boost conservation and save the critically endangered Asian Giant Tortoise back from the brink.
The Nagaland Forest Department (NFD), Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA) and Wildlife Conservation Society India (WCSI) on Monday announced the re-wilding of 10 captive-bred juveniles of Asian Giant Tortoise (Manouria emys phayrei) Intanki National Park.
This first monitored re-wilding of the critically endangered tortoise in India comes after more than five years of conservation breeding efforts at Nagaland Zoological Park, Dimapur, said Dr. Shailendra Singh, principal investigator, Asian Giant Tortoise Recovery Project in a statement.
According to experts, the species is on the verge of functional extinction due to overexploitation and ignorance that resulted in unsustainable use for local people’ consumption. The 10 juveniles, who were re-wilded were born in 2018 and have an average weight of 2.4 kg. According to Sushmita Kar, a researcher with the Asian Giant Tortoise Recovery Project, “the cohort had a thorough health examination by a panel of wildlife veterinarians, prior to their release.”
The largest tortoises on Asia are known as Asian Giant Tortoises, and they can be found, among other locations, in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, and Malaysia. The tortoises have been fitted with VHF transmitters by specialists working on the species recovery process, and they will watch the animals’ movements in the wild after release.
Together with the Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA) and the Nagaland Zoological Park (NZP), the Joint Asian Giant Tortoise Recovery Project was launched in 2017.
The pilot release of Asian Giant Tortoises, according to Vedpal Singh, Chief Wildlife Warden of Nagaland, is a significant step toward the repopulation of the species.
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