This Eastern long-necked turtle was released back into the Murrumbidgee River at Wagga Wagga. He had been up on the road and was found by a member of public who was concerned that he would get run over. She dropped it into Wagga Wagga Veterinary Hospital and they checked him over. He was missing his back right foot however it was decided the foot injury was an old one, and that he was OK to be released back into the river. He seemed very happy to be back and was soon swimming off into the distance. These turtles have a long neck usually about half the length of their carapace (shell) and they have webbed feet used for swimming and digging. They spend most of their time in slow moving freshwater - streams, dams, rivers and wetlands but they do travel overland searching for new waterholes and nesting areas. Did you know the terms turtle and tortoise are often used interchangeably and can cause some confusion? In the past, all freshwater turtles were called tortoises and marine turtles were called turtles. The more recent convention has been to restrict the term tortoise to the purely land-dwelling species. As such, Australia has no tortoises. Image and story and release thanks to Leonie Moore
Posted on: Wed, 08 Oct 2014 01:02:04 +0000
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