Mary River turtle finds some influential mates | Gympie News | Local News in Gympie

Craig Warhurst

THE endangered Mary River turtle has found very useful friends at the Tiaro and District Landcare Group, not least among them Marilyn Connell, who will take the turtles' case to the world this week.

Marilyn has been invited to the US to address a turtle biology and conservation symposium organised by the IUCN Turtle Survival Alliance.

The conference is being held at St Louis from Wednesday to Saturday and will be followed by an address she is due to present in Florida as a guest of the renowned Chelonian Research Institute, “where they have Galapagos turtles in the backyard”.

“We actually have one of the five community group tables at the St Louis conference, which includes people from all over the world, so it is a wonderful opportunity,” she said yesterday.

“It's pretty amazing to us that Tiaro Landcare and the endangered Mary River turtle are attracting such international attention.”

Marilyn's interest in the Mary River turtle started in 2001 when she was doing Mary River cod surveys along stretches of the river.

“We ran across a student doing her honours degree work on the turtle,” she said.

“We got talking and learned a bit about this special creature.”

Marilyn said the turtle was only scientifically described in 1994, although as it turned out the species had been well known in the pet trade for many years.

She said her interest in the turtle continued through her involvement with Tiaro Landcare and she became very interested in ways to save the species.

“This led to the chocolate turtle fundraiser to help save the turtle,” she said.