Red-crowned Roof turtle

2023 CEChambal River, India

"The Red-crowned Roofed Turtle (Batagur kachuga) is a Critically Endangered freshwater turtle species known historically from large riverine environments of India, Nepal, and Bangladesh. Evolutionarily adapted for high adult-survivorship, detrimental anthropogenic (human) activities such as illegal fishing, sand mining, poaching, egg harvesting, riverside agriculture, and large scale infrastructure projects have resulted in dramatic declines of the wild population. Recent estimates based on nest counts suggest less than 500 nesting females survive in the last remaining stronghold for the species, the Chambal River of India," and is considered the most threatened freshwater turtle in India.

Rishika Dubla, Shailendra Singh, Chandan Jani, Pawan Parekh and Jordan Gray, "Red-crowned Roofed Turtles Get a Head Start in India," Turtle Survival Alliance, September 12, 2022.

Image: CLPramod, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons