Science

Sometimes, I read a book I wrote and think, “this book is smarter than me.”

Conservationists release largest group of zoo-bred Bellinger River snapping turtles after virus wipe-out

Nearly a decade after a virus nearly wiped out a population of turtles unique to northern New South Wales, researchers say its origins remain a mystery as a project to repopulate the species hits a major milestone. Now identified as the Bellinger River Virus, it triggered a mass mortality event in 2015 that decimated 90 per cent of the river's snapping turtle population within six weeks. At the time, the state government placed 16 healthy turtles into a zoo-based breeding program led by Taronga Zoo as part of the NSW government's Saving our Species program. Some 179 Bellinger River snapping turtles have since been released after the program started in 2018, with 97 turtles reintroduced into the river during December marking the largest group yet...

With the zoo-led breeding efforts, that precious genetic diversity can be preserved as best as possible. It's not ideal, these turtles went though a massive bottleneck and we will see the founder effect (to an extent- reptiles have far fewer deleterious results of inbreeding than mammals do). But without zoo conservation, they'd be gone. Now they have a chance.

Hi there! I'm birbbones (Lauren) and this is my blog.

Hi there! I’m Lauren, I’m a UK-based Outreach Museum Educator and Collections technician. On the side, I do freelance illustration and skeletal articulation for clients and for personal work. You’ll probably find posts about my collection, outreach work, and ongoing projects!

I currently am the owner of The Skull Index, which is a public resource website for vertebrate specimens. We are now a registered CIC which allows us to branch out on the project and continue working on freelance outreach workshops and educational talks under ‘The Skull Index’ name. We have a community discord server (18+) which is a huge hub for museum industry professionals, students or visitors, its a great networking resource AND we have channels specific to anything vulture culture too!

Helpful tags!

#my collection - A collection of specimens in my personal collection. #the skull index - Posts about The Skull Index Project.  #asks - Questions, Chats and other asks by users. (Please send me asks! I love answering questions!!) #skeletal-articulation - Skeletons, Articulation work. #skulls - Skulls of vertebrate specimens, from personal collection or other people’s posts.

Other places to find me: Instagram - Birbbones

Art portfolio Website

Thursday, May 23, 2024