Setiu River Terrapin Recovery Project
This project was initiated in 2004 when Chan, the Director of the Turtle Conservation Centre was attached to Universiti Malaysia Terengganu. It is now continued under the TCC.
The objective of the Setiu River Terrapin Recovery Project is to rehabilitate the severely depleted population of river terrapins (Batagur affinis) in the Setiu River.
Seed money for this project was awarded by the US-based Turtle Conservation Fund (TCF) and Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA). We take this opportunity to thank them for the grants and for maintaining a keen interest in the development of the project. The results of the various aspects of the project have been presented in international conferences in Beijing, Hong Kong, Stellenbosch (South Africa), San Diego, Tucson, Ohio (US) and Manaus (Brazil) and locally in Malaysia as well.
The project involves the purchase of river terrapin eggs from local egg collectors, incubation of the eggs and head-starting the hatchlings for release in an event we call “Terrapin Independence Day (TID).” All the terrapins are microchipped for individual identification before release. The first 500 microchips were donated by the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo and second 300 units by Aquaria KLCC, both of which are gratefully acknowledged.
The tables below summarise the achievements of the project to date.
| Year | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. of Eggs Incubated | 364 | 278 | 384 | 229 | 245 | 301 | 91 |
| No. of Hatchlings Produced | 236 | 147 | 275 | 180 | 139 | 201 | 56 |
| Hatching Success | 64.8% | 52.8% | 71.6% | 78.6% | 56.7% | 66.8% | 61.5% |
The following table shows the number of river terrapins that have been released since 2005:
| Year | Date of release | No. of terrapins released | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 (1st TID) | 31st August | 150 | Hatched in 2004 |
| 2006 (2nd TID) | 9th September | 40 | Hatched in 2004 |
| 2007 (3rd TID) | 8th September | 50 | Hatched in 2004(21) and 2005(29) |
| 2008 (4th TID) | 31st March 2nd May 27th June 8th October 22 October | 1 (Transmitter ID: 11507) 3 (Transmitter IDs: 11509, 11516, 11521) 88 3 (Transmitter IDs: 11512, 11517, 11520) 16 | Tracking studies Tracking studies Hatched in 2005 Tracking studies Hatched in 2006 |
| 2009 (5th TID) | 8th May 9th September 11th September 16th September 19th December 21st December 25th December 31st December | 80 99 8 4 154 106 8 38 | Hatched in 2006 Hatched in 2006 Hatched in 2006 Hatched in 2006 Hatched in 2007 Hatched in 2008 Hatched in 2005 Hatched in 2006 |
| 2010 (World Turtle Day) | 5th January 21st May 24th May | 3 10 60 | Hatched in 2006 Hatched in 2009 Hatched in 2009 |
| TOTAL | 921 |
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- River terrapin hatchling barely out of its shell
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- Newly-emerged hatchling. Note its size.
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- Hatchlings raised in tanks
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- Unhatched eggs after more than 100 days of incubation.
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- Incubation in styrofoam boxes
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- Incubation of eggs in sand-nests
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- Head-starting the hatchlings in concrete tanks
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- Releasing head-started terrapins
Last updated: 20th August 2010
