Published on The Brunei Times (http://www.bt.com.bn/en)
Bota Kanan centre saves terrapins from extinction
Threatened: Malaysia's terrapins are still naturally found in the wild, but their numbers are dwindling rapidly. Picture: Liz Price
Saturday, September 13, 2008
HAVE you ever wondered where all the terrapins come from which are sold in pet shops and those that are released into ponds in Chinese temples? Many children have no idea of the origin of their pets. I wonder how many people have actually seen wild river terrapins.
I learnt more when I went to the Bota Kanan tuntung centre. Located in Perak 40km south of Ipoh, the centre is a fun and at the same time educational place to visit.
There are two species of tuntung in Malaysia; the River Terrapin and the Sea Terrapin. The River Terrapins are still naturally found in the wild, but their numbers are dwindling rapidly. Legend has it that in the mid 17th century, the Sultan of Kedah obtained River Terrapins from Sumatra and gave some to the Sultan of Perak when he visited Kedah. They were raised in captivity and then released at Bota Kanan. Numbers were so huge in the nineteenth century that villagers used to have egg fight festivals.
The terrapins were plentiful in the Sungai Perak until the late 1960s when their numbers dwindled, and now their numbers have declined so much that they are becoming endangered. The reason for the decline is habitat destruction, collection of adults for pets and eggs for eating, pollution of wetlands and rivers, drowning in fishing nets, accidental killing by boat engines, and killing of terrapins by fishermen in revenge for net damage. Some females are deliberately killed to extract the eggs, and others are killed by the use of tuber poisons used in fishing.
Firstly I went to the display centre, to look at the exhibits and to learn about the creatures I had come to see. The tuntung are bred at the centre, the eggs are incubated and hatched, then the young are kept in captivity until they are old enough to be released in the river.
The wild terrapins generally lay their eggs during November to February. After mating, the fertile females lay their eggs in the sandy river banks, always at night. Rangers scour the riverbank for eggs and hatchlings to be brought back to the centre for protection. Generally between 17 and 37 eggs are laid in a clutch, and they take 75 to 100 days to hatch. One third of all eggs collected by licenced authorised collectors must be given to the Department of Wildlife and National Parks for rearing and release.
There are 17 species of tortoises and turtle in Peninsular Malaysia and five sea turtles off the coast. All are in decreasing numbers and not even breeding programmes have managed to halt the decline. Out of those 17, there are 10 species of freshwater pond tortoises or terrapins. These include the River Terrapin, and also the Painted Terrapin which lives in river estuaries but comes to ocean beaches to nest. Both have declined drastically in numbers.
The Bota Kanan Centre was set up by the Dept of Wildlife and National Parks in the late 1960s to save the endangered River Terrapins. The hatchery has since released tens of thousands of hatchlings into the Perak River. From November to March, visitors can observe migrating River Terrapins swimming upstream to lay their eggs.
After looking at the exhibition area, I was invited to see the small museum set up in the laboratory. Here there were various stuffed animals, such as terrapins, a gharial, pangolin, civet cat, also an otter skin, and there were carapace from terrapins. There were even some feet and a trunk from elephants and the skull of a seladang.
The terrapin ponds are outside. The hatchling ponds have steep sides to prevent predators such as monitor lizards and otters from raiding. There is a "mother and child" pond, and a neighbouring tank with what seemed to be juveniles. The bigger ponds with the more mature animals have a landing area to enable the animals to leave the water and bask in the sun. Alarge area of the water is covered by an awning to enable the animals to have shade.
The average adult size is 60 cm, and females are larger than males. The life span is about 12 years, possibly longer in the wilds, up to 25 years. The furthest pool seemed to contain young adults. They were all basking in the sun on the ramps but as I approached closer they all dived into the water.
They are fed in the morning. Their natural food in the wild is riverside vegetation, especially mangrove fruit, some shell fish and prawns, discarded fruit and vegetables.
Near the hatchling area is a large area of sand which is the egg incubation site. Other eggs are also hatched in polystyrene boxes, some under cover, some in the open. It has been found that with the artificial sand beach there is a 50 per cent success rate of hatching from captive turtle eggs. The success rate is actually higher from the wild terrapins.
In the wild, after the hatchlings dig their way out of the sand they make their way to the river and begin a long and dangerous journey downriver. Not much is known about this part of their life cycle — Bota Kanan is 50km upstream. They are believed to spend most of their life in tidal waters near the river mouth, foraging along river banks and into tidal creeks. There are various things that we can do to help protect the terrapins. The main one is to refuse to eat the eggs or meat. Although adults are rarely eaten in Malaysia, river terrapin eggs are in great demand selling for seven times the price of chicken eggs. Also, keep the rivers clean, don't dispose of plastic bags indiscriminately.
The objectives of Bota Kanan centre include the preservation and protection of existing population and habitat of river terrapins in Peninsula Malaysia. Let's hope they succeed.The Brunei Times
I learnt more when I went to the Bota Kanan tuntung centre. Located in Perak 40km south of Ipoh, the centre is a fun and at the same time educational place to visit.
There are two species of tuntung in Malaysia; the River Terrapin and the Sea Terrapin. The River Terrapins are still naturally found in the wild, but their numbers are dwindling rapidly. Legend has it that in the mid 17th century, the Sultan of Kedah obtained River Terrapins from Sumatra and gave some to the Sultan of Perak when he visited Kedah. They were raised in captivity and then released at Bota Kanan. Numbers were so huge in the nineteenth century that villagers used to have egg fight festivals.
The terrapins were plentiful in the Sungai Perak until the late 1960s when their numbers dwindled, and now their numbers have declined so much that they are becoming endangered. The reason for the decline is habitat destruction, collection of adults for pets and eggs for eating, pollution of wetlands and rivers, drowning in fishing nets, accidental killing by boat engines, and killing of terrapins by fishermen in revenge for net damage. Some females are deliberately killed to extract the eggs, and others are killed by the use of tuber poisons used in fishing.
Firstly I went to the display centre, to look at the exhibits and to learn about the creatures I had come to see. The tuntung are bred at the centre, the eggs are incubated and hatched, then the young are kept in captivity until they are old enough to be released in the river.
The wild terrapins generally lay their eggs during November to February. After mating, the fertile females lay their eggs in the sandy river banks, always at night. Rangers scour the riverbank for eggs and hatchlings to be brought back to the centre for protection. Generally between 17 and 37 eggs are laid in a clutch, and they take 75 to 100 days to hatch. One third of all eggs collected by licenced authorised collectors must be given to the Department of Wildlife and National Parks for rearing and release.
There are 17 species of tortoises and turtle in Peninsular Malaysia and five sea turtles off the coast. All are in decreasing numbers and not even breeding programmes have managed to halt the decline. Out of those 17, there are 10 species of freshwater pond tortoises or terrapins. These include the River Terrapin, and also the Painted Terrapin which lives in river estuaries but comes to ocean beaches to nest. Both have declined drastically in numbers.
The Bota Kanan Centre was set up by the Dept of Wildlife and National Parks in the late 1960s to save the endangered River Terrapins. The hatchery has since released tens of thousands of hatchlings into the Perak River. From November to March, visitors can observe migrating River Terrapins swimming upstream to lay their eggs.
After looking at the exhibition area, I was invited to see the small museum set up in the laboratory. Here there were various stuffed animals, such as terrapins, a gharial, pangolin, civet cat, also an otter skin, and there were carapace from terrapins. There were even some feet and a trunk from elephants and the skull of a seladang.
The terrapin ponds are outside. The hatchling ponds have steep sides to prevent predators such as monitor lizards and otters from raiding. There is a "mother and child" pond, and a neighbouring tank with what seemed to be juveniles. The bigger ponds with the more mature animals have a landing area to enable the animals to leave the water and bask in the sun. Alarge area of the water is covered by an awning to enable the animals to have shade.
The average adult size is 60 cm, and females are larger than males. The life span is about 12 years, possibly longer in the wilds, up to 25 years. The furthest pool seemed to contain young adults. They were all basking in the sun on the ramps but as I approached closer they all dived into the water.
They are fed in the morning. Their natural food in the wild is riverside vegetation, especially mangrove fruit, some shell fish and prawns, discarded fruit and vegetables.
Near the hatchling area is a large area of sand which is the egg incubation site. Other eggs are also hatched in polystyrene boxes, some under cover, some in the open. It has been found that with the artificial sand beach there is a 50 per cent success rate of hatching from captive turtle eggs. The success rate is actually higher from the wild terrapins.
In the wild, after the hatchlings dig their way out of the sand they make their way to the river and begin a long and dangerous journey downriver. Not much is known about this part of their life cycle — Bota Kanan is 50km upstream. They are believed to spend most of their life in tidal waters near the river mouth, foraging along river banks and into tidal creeks. There are various things that we can do to help protect the terrapins. The main one is to refuse to eat the eggs or meat. Although adults are rarely eaten in Malaysia, river terrapin eggs are in great demand selling for seven times the price of chicken eggs. Also, keep the rivers clean, don't dispose of plastic bags indiscriminately.
The objectives of Bota Kanan centre include the preservation and protection of existing population and habitat of river terrapins in Peninsula Malaysia. Let's hope they succeed.The Brunei Times
Source URL:
http://www.bt.com.bn/en/en/life/2008/09/13/bota_kanan_centre_saves_terrapins_from_extinction
http://www.bt.com.bn/en/en/life/2008/09/13/bota_kanan_centre_saves_terrapins_from_extinction
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