{"id":279919,"date":"2026-01-11T21:59:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T21:59:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/279919\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T21:59:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T21:59:11","slug":"high-hopes-for-endangered-white-throated-snapping-turtle-after-record-number-of-clutches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/279919\/","title":{"rendered":"High hopes for endangered white-throated snapping turtle after record number of clutches"},"content":{"rendered":"

The hum of insects blends with the breeze whispering through the treetops, and the lapping water.<\/p>\n

It is peaceful, but a sense of anticipation grows as Brad Crosbie approaches and opens a cage on a bank of the Burnett River.<\/p>\n

“Sometimes, you can just push on the ground a little bit, just to see how close they are to emerging,” says Mr Crosbie, general manager of Bundaberg-based WYLD Projects.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The turtle eggs were relocated to these cages.\u00a0 (ABC Wide Bay: Grace Whiteside)<\/p>\n

“That ground just collapsed, so now we’re looking at a critically endangered hatchling that’s been underground for six months \u2014 it’s super cool.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Finding and relocating white-throated snapping turtle eggs is a key element of the work of not-for-profit WYLD (Where Youth Live Dreams) Projects.<\/p>\n

The turtle’s scientific name is Elseya albagula. It is known as milbi in Taribelang Bunda language.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The milbi emerge from their nests in the evenings and at night.\u00a0 (ABC Wide Bay: Grace Whiteside)<\/p>\n

The group found 187 clutches this season, and, while 93 had already been destroyed, the remaining 94 were relocated to cages.<\/p>\n

In previous years, only 60 to 70 were able to be protected.<\/p>\n

Mr Crosbie said this season had been “extraordinary”.<\/p>\n

“We’ve never had this amount of clutches before in the last nine years.”<\/p>\n

He said an explosion of dragonflies and cicadas signalled a strong laying season, as mothers primarily nesting during rain events.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We’ve only worked this out in the last couple of years that they [dragonflies and cicadas] were indicators of big rain,” Mr Crosbie said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

It takes the hatchlings 15 to 20 years to mature to adulthood. (Supplied: Burnett Mary Regional Group)<\/p>\n

Also unique to this season was mothers laying eggs outside of wet weather.<\/p>\n

“The turtle lays in rain events, and, most of the time, usually only one to two days after a rain event,” Mr Crosbie said.<\/p>\n

“But this year, those turtles laid when there was no rain, and they laid for five or six days consecutively.<\/p>\n

“That’s never ever happened in the history of the species, so I don’t know why, apart from I suppose there was enough moisture in the ground.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Connecting youth to country<\/p>\n

Witnessing the laying of eggs and hatching of the turtles was a “humbling experience” for Bruce Waia, Indigenous project officer with WYLD Projects.<\/p>\n

“It’s a reflection time too, because we’re seeing new life and the birth of a species that’s going to, you know, most likely disappear if we don’t do the work we do,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Bruce Waia says it is humbling to watch the turtles’ journeys. (ABC Wide Bay: Grace Whiteside)<\/p>\n

Out of the 25 species of freshwater turtle native to Australia, about half have a conservation status of vulnerable or worse.<\/p>\n

Aside from physical conservation work, WYLD Projects educates young people about caring for country and culture.<\/p>\n

Mr Waia said he noticed similarities between the turtles’ journey and the young people.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Brad Crosbie says 100 per cent of the clutches would be predated without their intervention. (ABC Wide Bay: Grace Whiteside)<\/p>\n

“They’re looking at these babies coming out of the ground and going to the water and seeing straight away [that] they’re in survival mode,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Same as our youth, all this history that they’ve got \u2026 I get to be that one to hold the space so that the youth can see their struggles are quite real.<\/p>\n

“It just mirrors.”<\/p>\n

Variable clutch numbers<\/p>\n

Marilyn Connell has been involved in conservation work for freshwater turtles in the Mary River, south of the Burnett River, for 25 years.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Tiaro Landcare, with Marilyn Connell, protected 59 nests this season. (ABC Wide Bay: Lucy Loram)<\/p>\n

She is project manager with Tiaro Landcare, which secured 59 clutches this season.<\/p>\n

“[We] protect the clutches with mesh \u2026 some clutches we relocate into protective cages,” Ms Connell said.<\/p>\n

She said the group concentrated its efforts on the also critically endangered Mary River turtle.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A Mary River turtle hatchling protected by Tiaro Landcare this season. (Supplied: Marilyn Connell)<\/p>\n

“We had less [clutches] last year, but some years we get over 80, close to around 100, so it’s really, really variable,” Ms Connell said.<\/p>\n

“If we didn’t protect nests \u2026 the recruitment would just be basically next to zero.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Brad Crosbie says WYLD Projects has a love language for the milbi. (ABC Wide Bay: Grace Whiteside)<\/p>\n

Back on the banks of the Burnett River, Mr Crosbie sits and stares out at the water after releasing the hatchling.<\/p>\n

“We haven’t got PhDs. We just got a connection to this turtle,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

he said.<\/p>\n

“If we talk about people, we’ve got a love language [to describe that], and we’ve got a love language and that’s why we’re doing this for this turtle.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The hum of insects blends with the breeze whispering through the treetops, and the lapping water. It is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279920,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[269],"tags":[141168,141169,18,141165,440,141167,19,17,136817,26767,133,21794,141166,141170],"class_list":{"0":"post-279919","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-bundaberg","9":"tag-burnett-river","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-endangered-turtles","12":"tag-environment","13":"tag-hatchlings","14":"tag-ie","15":"tag-ireland","16":"tag-mary-river","17":"tag-queensland","18":"tag-science","19":"tag-turtles","20":"tag-white-throated-snapping-turtles","21":"tag-wyld-projects"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115878715133632910","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279919\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}