In the month of May, more than 10 thousand hatchlings of the Arrau species were released into the Poça de Babilla Flaca, one of the tributaries of the Orinoco River in Venezuelan Amazon. In all, 51 thousand turtles should return still this year to their natural habitat through the Arrau Turtle Conservation Program, that since 1989 has been working together with the Ministry of the Environment (Minamb) and Bolivia’s National Guard, aside from counting on support from several of that country’s NGOs and educational institutions.
The program’s goal is to reinforce and accelerate the recovery of natural populations that are currently endangered from extinction though actions of care and environmental education, as well as also through the handling of the species by means of changing nests from risk locations, the rescue of newborn turtles, their transference to breeding centers, and their final release and monitoring.
According to data from Minamb, in the last 10 years more than 350 thousand Arrau turtles were released into their natural habitat after spending a year in breeding pens, “enabling the survival of the species outside captivity”. José Zambrano, director for Minamb in the state of Amazonas (to the south of Venezuela), said that the releasing activity this year counted on the participation of the National Land Institute (INTI), the National Anti-drug Workshop (ONA), the National Experimental University of the Armed Forces (Unefa), the Cecilio Acosta Educational Unit and the University Institute for Technology of the Amazon (Iutama), an entity that is part of the La Salle de Ciências Naturais Foundation, in charge of breeding turtles in captivity that have been rescued in 2010 from nesting beaches around Orinoco River.
Isabel Parra, Iutama’s director, explained that during twelve months Ecotourism and Agrofoods students were incorporated into the tasks of breeding, feeding and sanitation care for these 10 thousand turtles. “It was an enriching experience for the knowledge they gained on the species and of the importance of their conservation for the Amazonian ecosystem”. It’s worth highlighting that Iutama has been active since 2003, as the only Ecotourism school in Latin America with regional curriculums which are specially designed to form young people from communities of indigenous people in Venezuela’s Amazon.
The Arrau turtle
The Arrau turtle, known as
Podocnemis expansa, is a freshwater chelonian that can weight 40 kilos. It is the largest in Latin America (the female of the species can measure up to 70 centimeters in length). For this reason, German naturalist Alejandro Humboldt, when visiting Venezuela in 1800, compared them to “large stepping stones” due to the large numbers of this species in existence in the Orinoco River, estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands.
The color of their shell is almost black and is formed by smooth large plates. The underside is called a plastron – it is yellow in color; its paws are short and outfitted with large, strong nails and its toes are joined by a membrane enabling it to swim. It feeds on aquatic plants, fruits and seeds it finds in the water, but also on some invertebrates such as sponges and shrimp.
It is found in the basins of rivers Orinoco and Amazon, but when the time comes to lay its eggs it prefers some of the islands on the Orinoco River that offer sandy soil. Several scientific studies indicate that the reproductive process of Arrau turtles begins in the month of October with the decline in the level of Orinoco’s waters, enabling the species to congregate. During the month of February, females begin the ritual of taking sunbaths by the island’s shores that begin to appear throughout the river prior to laying their eggs.
This sunbathing period lasts several days, between February and early March, until the moment in which they begin to lay their eggs, a process that occurs during the early hours of the night when they begin digging holes of up to 80 centimeters deep. In it, they deposit 50 to 150 white rounded eggs, which are then covered with sand, making the hole a kind of incubator where the temperature will determine the gender of the individuals to be born. Studies indicate that high incubation temperatures establish a greater proportion of females, while the lower temperatures mean the birth of males. Between 45 and 70 days, Arrau hatchlings will reach the surface of the sand to face all sorts of dangers.
A roundabout path
According to the Red Book of Venezuelan Fauna, edited by the NGO Provita, “the main danger the Arrau turtle has to face is the exploitation of its populations as a source of food and to obtain other products”. As soon as it leaves its nesting hole and before it reaches the water, it is easy prey to vultures, herons, storks and hawks. The survivors still have to face water predators such as piranhas and catfish”. An investigation conducted by Minamb shows that currently, Arrau flesh is still sold although this practice is illegal and there is monitoring to prevent this from happening.
A protecting haven
The Venezuelan government has been active in conserving this species since 1946, when the gathering of eggs and newborns was forbidden. At the end of the 70ies a Haven for Wildlife and Arrau Turtle Protecting Zone was created, in mid Orinoco, to protect the main nesting beaches for at least 1,500 females of this species in Venezuelan territory.
In 2001, Minamb began a process to strengthen the conservation program “achieving, among many other things, the reduction of hunting and nest ransacking, an increase in environmental education and an increase in the participation of communities in caring for these species”, according to a statement by the Venezuelan news agency AVN.
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