ur comments been deleted matey hahaha (atleast, i cant see it anymore)
Yeah not surprised at all... fortunately I emailed my comment to myself as it was quite long so I can copy/paste and repost it relentlessly.
As a private keeper and breeder of Wollumbinia purvisi now for many years up here in the state of QLD where it's sunny one day and perfect the next I must say I found this video at first rather amusing but then most importantly extremely full of misinformation. So let's get about setting the record straight. ARP never had nor ever will have claim to an Australian or world first record with captive breeding this species nor does the future of this species rest solely on the success of this project. This video claims that "Manning river turtles" reach maturity at 5-6 years... absolute boohockey... the generation gap of Wollumbinia purvisi is actually 15-20 years, they couldn't even be accurately sexed as either male or female at 5 years of age. The video claims they can grow up to 30cm... and live for 50-60 years, incorrect. The average adult female size is actually closer to 18cm with males being smaller... also the average clutch size is around 12-14 eggs not 20+ W. purvisi being such a slow species to reach maturity would live well beyond 60 years, a good 2-3 decades beyond. The video claims the Manning river turtle is Australia's oldest turtle, it is not, the Lavaracks turtle (gulf snapper) predates Wollumbinia purvisi by a further 60 million years. Dan also mentions that males are far more vibrant than the dull females.. rubbish! Females are equally as vibrant and in many cases more so. Some of my own females are better looking than the males, Marc Dorse also notes this within his own collection.
I currently have 12 W. purvisi hatchlings right now from a clutch that was laid on October 18th and hatched on December 7th (might I add without a 100k + public handout or state of the art facility, I'm a fully self funded home run operation) I do this because I LOVE, live and breathe turtles, I don't get paid from 9-5 Monday to Friday to keep, rear and breed turtles then get weekend's/public holidays off, this is a full-time and expensive hobby I maintain by having a full time day job to fund my efforts that I've been in for the last 18 years.
The video shows hatchlings that are apparently being prepared for wild release... well how can they be prepared for wild release in bare glass bottomed tanks that aren't blacked out on all sides?? Such setups prevent turtles from exhibiting all natural instinctive defensive behaviours. Those young turtles have already imprinted in their brains that humans are where their food comes from and aren't the slightest bit afraid of a giant glove covered hand approaching them. Those hatchlings placed into the wild now would last all of 5 minutes... they've been set up to fail. They're domesticated now because of visual overexposure to humans and a feeding regime that associates humans with food. Epic FAIL there. Nail polish marked plastrons which make them stand out like dog's balls to predators... camouflage fail.
Releasing them is a fool's errand anyway... the foxes that predate upon the nests haven't been erradicated, the introduced Emydura macquarrii that are displacing Wollumbinia purvisi haven't been eradicated, the impacts of climate change and agricultural pressures upon their tiny natural range haven't been reversed so really... plopping them back into the river/s achieves nothing in the scope of things.... sure some may survive a little while and make it look like a huge success and $$ well spent but it won't achieve anything in the long run. The little purvisi that do survive the eels and birds will probably grow up if conditions allow it, for what?? To have their own nests destroyed or be predated on themselves by foxes or to be made genetically redundant by crossbreeding with introduced Emydura sp?? This project video by ARP is fooling everyone into believing success is now inevitable but those of us who actually know anything about the situation see it very differently... this project is not actually going to save anything as far as wild populations go, it will however temporarily prolong the inevitable.
Wollumbinia purvisi has no future in the Manning river or its tributaries. Not until all detrimental impacts on the species are addressed and dealt with accordingly.
It is terribly sad but true.
For now, the immediate future of Wollumbinia purvisi rests in the more experienced and capable hands of private captive breeders like Marc Dorse and myself who have been making vital inroads into gaining a full understanding of this now rare and unique turtle's ecology and our combined vision to firmly establish this species in the captive trade where its future will be secure no matter what happens in the wild.
Finally, the recent law changes regarding the private keeping and breeding of protected wildlife imposed upon QLD keepers thanks to pressure applied on our government by certain parties based in NSW will ultimately seal Wollumbinia purvisi's fate of extinction if those changes are not revoked in the near future. This is not a game, it is not a joke, there will be no do-overs or second chances... politics and professional jealousy cannot stand in the way of the common good. This species has existed unchanged for over 80 million years, it is LITERALLY a living fossil and it's on the brink of extinction now thanks to the gross errors and mismanagement by every NSW department in the last 200. They say the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best time is now. This applies for Wollumbinia purvisi... the best time to start acting was 20 years ago and there's a handful of us up here in QLD that recognised this species was in urgent need of conservation effort long before the various NSW depts came to the party. We already have a substantial headstart on establishing a solid captive bred insurance population for this species. Why would anybody conservation minded want to cease our combined efforts that cost neither the Government or Australian public nothing, not one red cent? It just does not make any sense.
Kevin McKay - private keeper / Wollumbinia purvisi breeder / Australian freshwater turtle conservationist - Toowoomba QLD.
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And further up the ladder of BS we climb...
And now we wait some more....
