Thats the thing, not entirely sure where I saw it. To be honest now I think about it I really haven't seen that many endangered freshwater turtles. Tortoises and sea turtles I could be more help.
Zoos with the rarest / most endangered freshwater turtles
- Thread starter Onychorhynchus coronatus
- Start date
I personally think their habitats are a lot better then what I'm used too, you should see the reptileland gallery.
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
Thanks for sharing @twilighter ! Much appreciated !
Some of these turtle exhibits look great and there seems to be a great variety of species kept and it is curious that many of them seem to be housed together in mixed species exhibits.
I love the Roti Island snake necked turtle such a strangely charismatic looking species.
Defentivily the Allwetterzoo Münster. It is one of the breeding centers of many of the worlds rarest freshwater turtles (even though most are kept behind the scenes in the Internationalen Zentrum für Schildkrötenschutz, which means international centrum of turtle conservation)
It has many extremly rareities (in some species even the majority of the population)
The species keept here are the
Annam leaf turtle (Mauremys annamensis)
Arakan forest turtle (Heosemys depressa) Central Vietnamese flowerback box turtle (Cuora bourreti)
Central Vietnamese Three-striped box turtle (Cuora cyclornata annamitica)
Chinese yellow-headed box turtle (Cuora aurocapitata)
Four-eyed turtle (Sacalia quadriocellata)
Malayan flat-shelled turtle (Notochelys platynota)
McCord's box turtle (Cuora mccordi)
McCord's snake-necked turtle (Chelodina mccordi)
Northern Vietnamese box turtle (Cuora galbinifrons)
Northern Vietnamese three-striped box turtle (Cuora cyclornata meieri)
Pan's box turtle (Cuora pani)
Red-necked pond turtle (Mauremys nigricans)
Ryukyu box turtle (Cuora flavomarginataevelyna)
Southern Vietnamese box turtle (Cuora picturata)
Sulawesi forest turtle (Leucocephalon yuwonoi)
Vietnamese three-striped box turtle (Cuora cyclornata cyclornata)
Zhou's box turtle (Cuora zhoui)
It is somewhat of a shame that of this list, normally only 2 species the
McCord's snake-necked turtle and the Annam leaf turtle are seen publicly outside of special days, were the public can see them. But in my opinion is it the perfect sollution. They can focus on breeding this sadly to the public uninteresting animals which need help so much, with the strong focus on south-east asias threatnet wildlife.
Beside them there are aswell a few commen species like Mississippi map turtles and painted turtles.
It aswell has 2 tortoises, the "only vulnearable" Indian Star tortoise (Geochelone elegans), which the zoos is breeding extremyl succesfully and the extremly rare (only Nyíregyháza in hungary keeps them europe aswell)
Three-keeled land tortoise (
Melanochelys tricarinata) (which is aswell only kept in the breeding center
It has many extremly rareities (in some species even the majority of the population)
The species keept here are the
Annam leaf turtle (Mauremys annamensis)
Arakan forest turtle (Heosemys depressa) Central Vietnamese flowerback box turtle (Cuora bourreti)
Central Vietnamese Three-striped box turtle (Cuora cyclornata annamitica)
Chinese yellow-headed box turtle (Cuora aurocapitata)
Four-eyed turtle (Sacalia quadriocellata)
Malayan flat-shelled turtle (Notochelys platynota)
McCord's box turtle (Cuora mccordi)
McCord's snake-necked turtle (Chelodina mccordi)
Northern Vietnamese box turtle (Cuora galbinifrons)
Northern Vietnamese three-striped box turtle (Cuora cyclornata meieri)
Pan's box turtle (Cuora pani)
Red-necked pond turtle (Mauremys nigricans)
Southern Vietnamese box turtle (Cuora picturata)
Sulawesi forest turtle (Leucocephalon yuwonoi)
Vietnamese three-striped box turtle (Cuora cyclornata cyclornata)
Zhou's box turtle (Cuora zhoui)
It is somewhat of a shame that of this list, normally only 2 species the
McCord's snake-necked turtle and the Annam leaf turtle are seen publicly outside of special days, were the public can see them. But in my opinion is it the perfect sollution. They can focus on breeding this sadly to the public uninteresting animals which need help so much, with the strong focus on south-east asias threatnet wildlife.
Beside them there are aswell a few commen species like Mississippi map turtles and painted turtles.
It aswell has 2 tortoises, the "only vulnearable" Indian Star tortoise (Geochelone elegans), which the zoos is breeding extremyl succesfully and the extremly rare (only Nyíregyháza in hungary keeps them europe aswell)
Three-keeled land tortoise (
Melanochelys tricarinata) (which is aswell only kept in the breeding center
My area has one of the largest populations of Blanding's Turtles. I've never seen one in the area as they are very secretive, but they are around (the only wild one I've ever seen was on the grounds of the Detroit Zoo). Lots of zoos in the Great Lakes states have large scale breeding programs for this species. They survive very well close to people as long as they have passageways to get from one wetland to another. The species is very much on the road to recovery. 
Me too! I remember at reptileland I sat for 20 min just playing with these little guys through the glass. I thought they were the funniest things ever as a young child, and I always loved how they smiled at me as I awesomely (used in the alternate term) stared at the glass.
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
Defentivily the Allwetterzoo Münster. It is one of the breeding centers of many of the worlds rarest freshwater turtles (even though most are kept behind the scenes in the Internationalen Zentrum für Schildkrötenschutz, which means international centrum of turtle conservation)
It has many extremly rareities (in some species even the majority of the population)
The species keept here are the
Annam leaf turtle (Mauremys annamensis)
Arakan forest turtle (Heosemys depressa) Central Vietnamese flowerback box turtle (Cuora bourreti)
Central Vietnamese Three-striped box turtle (Cuora cyclornata annamitica)
Chinese yellow-headed box turtle (Cuora aurocapitata)
Four-eyed turtle (Sacalia quadriocellata)
Malayan flat-shelled turtle (Notochelys platynota)
McCord's box turtle (Cuora mccordi)
McCord's snake-necked turtle (Chelodina mccordi)
Northern Vietnamese box turtle (Cuora galbinifrons)
Northern Vietnamese three-striped box turtle (Cuora cyclornata meieri)
Pan's box turtle (Cuora pani)
Red-necked pond turtle (Mauremys nigricans)Ryukyu box turtle (Cuora flavomarginataevelyna)
Southern Vietnamese box turtle (Cuora picturata)
Sulawesi forest turtle (Leucocephalon yuwonoi)
Vietnamese three-striped box turtle (Cuora cyclornata cyclornata)
Zhou's box turtle (Cuora zhoui)
It is somewhat of a shame that of this list, normally only 2 species the
McCord's snake-necked turtle and the Annam leaf turtle are seen publicly outside of special days, were the public can see them. But in my opinion is it the perfect sollution. They can focus on breeding this sadly to the public uninteresting animals which need help so much, with the strong focus on south-east asias threatnet wildlife.
Beside them there are aswell a few commen species like Mississippi map turtles and painted turtles.
It aswell has 2 tortoises, the "only vulnearable" Indian Star tortoise (Geochelone elegans), which the zoos is breeding extremyl succesfully and the extremly rare (only Nyíregyháza in hungary keeps them europe aswell)
Three-keeled land tortoise (
Melanochelys tricarinata) (which is aswell only kept in the breeding center
Thanks for the comment @GiratinaIsGod !
Wow! It certainly sounds like Münster have a stellar ex-situ collection of endangered turtles.
I'll have to have a look at some of the pictures in the gallery as some of these species sound fascinating.
Do you have a favourite species on display here ? and what are the education displays for the public like ?
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
Yes, I know it is anthromorphism to say this but they do have quite a cheerful looking face, don't they ?
I suppose in some ways it strangely makes it all the more ironic and poignant considering their conservation status and plight in the wild.
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
My area has one of the largest populations of Blanding's Turtles. I've never seen one in the area as they are very secretive, but they are around (the only wild one I've ever seen was on the grounds of the Detroit Zoo). Lots of zoos in the Great Lakes states have large scale breeding programs for this species. They survive very well close to people as long as they have passageways to get from one wetland to another. The species is very much on the road to recovery.
Thanks for sharing @birdsandbats !
Blanding's turtles are an interesting species and particularly in the context of this thread as unlike the Asian and Latin American freshwater turtles the primary threat to this species is habitat destruction.
I'm really glad to hear that they are recovering thanks to conservation efforts
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Very fond of their banana yellow necks!Thanks for sharing @birdsandbats !
Blanding's turtles are an interesting species and particularly in the context of this thread as unlike the Asian and Latin American freshwater turtles the primary threat to this species is habitat destruction.
I'm really glad to hear that they are recovering thanks to conservation efforts
I not much of a reptile guy, but I would say the McCord's snake-necked turtle, it looks more intersting, and the signage arround it informing about the Zoos Turtule conservation and the history of the turtle itself are realy good. And it is next to the titicaca water frog. Which is another rareity
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
Another critically endangered snake neck turtle from South-East Asia. There are just so many of them that it is simultaneously both impressive the turtle biodiversity in that area of the world and deeply depressing that they are all on the prescipice of extinction.
Good to hear that the information signage is decent there. I'll have to try and find some pictures in the gallery and have a look.
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I don't know of it there are imiages up on here. These exhibits of the aquarium was made only 2 years ago. And Münster was never one of the famous german zoos here
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
Found these videos from Allwetterzoo Münster showing some of their turtle collection behind the scene from the looks of it.
I have no idea what is being said in the videos as don't speak German but the species in the second video appears to be one from Sulawesi based on the poor translator I am using.
I have no idea what is being said in the videos as don't speak German but the species in the second video appears to be one from Sulawesi based on the poor translator I am using.
I will tell you first about the second video (since it is short). He talks about how the turtle (he doesn't talk about the species) came to international breeding programs. The population did compleatly collspsed, and a single man in Honk Kong, who saw this strange turtle bought them from the meat market, so that they could be breed in captivity, and how importent a captive population for this case it. The sulawesi part in your translation comes probely from the german sowieso. Which mean anyways. When he talked about that they would be s nyways sold and later killed if he didn't bought them
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the translation @GiratinaIsGod
Ah I see so they were rescued from a wet market and sent to this zoo for ex-situ captive breeding, that is quite interesting.
I wonder how many endangered Asian freshwater turtles in zoos arrive there from similar circumstances.
The species in the second video is the Zhou's box turtle (Cuora zhoui). The story of it is again explained in the first video. But like in the signiage, does he also talk about how we never seen in nature, and only found in chinese food markets. And even wikipedia talkes about how from the 140 known zhou's box turtles, 80 (over 50%) were hatched in münster
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
That is incredible that they have only ever been found in Chinese wet markets as it leaves their natural habitat as being unknown to anyone except the people who catch them for this trade.
I wasn't familiar with this particular species so that is really interesting and of course I hope that Münster continues to breed the species ex-situ as it seems like they are under some serious pressure of overexploitation as food in China.
An even larger collection of endangered and rare turtles can be found in Graz - Austria. Its called Turtle Island and a thread about it and its collection can be found here : Turtle Island, Graz
You can also have a look at their website.
You can also have a look at their website.