Native Indian turtles face U.S. slider threat across Northeast
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Herpetologists have warned that the invasive red-eared slider, launched in pure water our bodies by individuals who preserve them as ‘cute’ pets, may flip nasty for 29 native species of turtles and tortoises.
A ‘cute’ American turtle in style as a pet is threatening to invade the pure water our bodies across the Northeast, residence to 21 of the 29 susceptible native Indian species of freshwater turtles and tortoises.
Between August 2018 and June 2019, a staff of herpetologists from NGO Help Earth discovered red-eared sliders within the Deepor Beel Wildlife Sanctuary and the Ugratara temple pond – each in Guwahati. They printed the “grim” discovering in ‘Reptiles & Amphibians’, journal of the U.S.-based International Reptile Conservation Foundation in August 2020.
But the alarm was raised after H.T. Lalremsanga and eight others from Mizoram University’s Department of Zoology printed one other report in the identical journal in April this 12 months. Their report mentioned a red-eared slider was collected from an unnamed stream, linked to the Tlawng River, on a farm close to Mizoram capital Aizawl.
The red-eared slider (Trachemys scripta elegans) derives its title from pink stripes across the half the place its ears can be and from its potential to slip shortly off any floor into the water.
“Native to the U.S. and northern Mexico, this turtle is an extremely popular pet due to its small size, easy maintenance, and relatively low cost. But on the flip side, they grow fast and virtually leaves nothing for the native species to eat,” Mr. Lalremsanga instructed The Puucho on Friday.
“Much like the Burmese python that went to the U.S. as a pet to damage the South Florida Everglades ecosystem, the red-eared slider has already affected States such as Karnataka and Gujarat, where it has been found in 33 natural water bodies,” Jayaditya Purkayastha of the Guwahati-based Help Earth mentioned.
“But more than elsewhere in India, preventing this invasive species from overtaking the Brahmaputra and other river ecosystems in the Northeast is crucial because the Northeast is home to more than 72% of the turtle and tortoise species in the country, all of them very rare,” he mentioned.
Mr. Purkayastha mentioned the red-eared slider presents a Catch-22 scenario. People who preserve it as pets turn into delicate about turtle conservation however endanger the native ecosystem, in all probability unknowingly, by releasing them in pure water our bodies after they outgrow an aquarium, tank or pool at residence.
“Although the red-eared slider is traded legally, the time has come for the government to come up with regulations against keeping invasive as pets,” he mentioned.
Alternatively, Help Earth has been engaged on a mission on a repository for red-eared slider and different pets which might be invasive. “We are trying to create awareness among pet traders for maintaining a database of red-eared slider buyers. They can be contacted to hand over the turtles to the repository insulated from any wetland or natural water body,” Mr. Purkayastha mentioned.
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