It might not win a prize for the cutest animal on the block but, in some parts of the world, it is popular for its meat and eggs. The pig-nosed turtle (Carettochelys insculpta), also known as the pitted-shelled turtle or Fly River turtle, is found only in northern Australia and southern Papua New Guinea. The freshwater turtle has paddle-shaped flippers like a marine turtle and a pig-like nose. Numbers have declined steeply in the past 30 years, with an estimated 50 per cent decline in the population since 1981 in Papua New Guinea. "Once upon a time this family was so big, its … relatives lived all over Europe, Asia, Africa and north America," Yolarnie Amepou, a Master's student at University of Canberra, told Vanessa Mills on ABC Kimberley radio. "Today there is only one species found and that is this one, and it is only found in southern New Guinea and northern Australia." Ms Amepou, from Papua New Guinea, said elderly Indigenous people have described to her how plentiful the turtles were when they were growing up. "They said when we were younger these turtles were so numerous that when you went onto a sand bank, the sand banks moved," she said. "It was not the sand moving, it was the turtles moving during nesting and you cannot find that anymore." Ms Amepou is the coordinator of a conservation program called the Piku Project, based in the Kikori region of Papua New Guinea.
Source: ABC News, 16 June 2016
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-06-16/effot-to-save-pig-nosed-turtles/7…
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