The Amazon, a treasure of unique biodiversity, faces a new environmental crisis threatening the survival of one of its most representative species: the charapa turtles (Podocnemis expansa). In the last year, the births of turtles of this species in the Guaporé Valley dropped by 50% in a key nesting area located on the border between Brazil and Bolivia. This drastic decline is due to the combination of historic droughts, forest fires, and other extreme weather phenomena.
The Guaporé Valley, known as a natural sanctuary for charapa turtles, is the place where millions of females gather each year between August and October to nest on elevated beaches. However, in 2024, the number of births decreased from 1.4 million to just 700,000 hatchlings.
According to César Luiz Guimarães, superintendent of Ibama in Rondônia, this decrease was due to the interaction of adverse climatic factors that disrupted the reproductive cycle of the species. Among the main threats, the most severe drought recorded in the region stands out, drastically reducing river levels and making it difficult for females to reach nesting beaches.
This is due to the climate crisis in the Amazon, which has generated multiple problems for charapa turtles, such as prolonged droughts that left rivers at extremely low levels, causing many females to have no access to nesting beaches. Moreover, record forest fires and the resulting smoke disoriented the turtles and delayed their reproduction, not to mention the sudden floods in December that destroyed numerous nests, drowning the hatchlings before their birth.
Conservation and efforts to mitigate the crisis
Despite these adversities, conservation actions were implemented to minimize the damages. For this, Ibama led a rescue campaign in which 200,000 hatchlings were relocated to protected areas before being released into the river, far from predators. However, the total forecast for 2024 barely reaches 700,000 hatchlings, well below historical figures.
In other parts of the Amazon, community initiatives, such as those in the Jaú National Park, involved local populations in turtle protection. For this reason, former hunters were trained as environmental monitors, transforming their relationship with these species.
Vulnerable nests and decrease in turtle births
In the Guaporé Valley, turtles usually nest on seven main beaches, five in Brazil and two in Bolivia. This year, only one of them recorded successful births, while the others became unusable due to drought and the expansion of sandbanks. The hatchlings that managed to be born were exposed to predators such as vultures and caimans, as well as extreme conditions before reaching the water.
The smoke from the fires also disoriented the females, causing a delay in their reproductive cycle. This disruption left many hatchlings vulnerable to rains and floods that destroyed their nests.
Alarming decrease in turtle births in the Amazon. Photo: Wikipedia.
Additional threats to river turtles
Charapa turtles are not the only ones affected. Throughout the Amazon, 11 out of the 16 species of river turtles face serious threats. Among the main causes are illegal trafficking of eggs and meat, deforestation, construction of hydroelectric dams, and climate change, exacerbated by phenomena like El Niño.
Organizations like the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio) and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) have implemented innovative programs involving riverside communities in nest protection and egg rescue. For this, over 100 local residents were trained, becoming turtle guardians, a model that combines conservation with the sustainable development of these communities.
Despite the efforts, the future of charapa turtles remains uncertain. However, conservation initiatives offer hope to preserve this iconic species and the balance of the Amazonian ecosystems. Protecting the charapas is not only crucial for their survival but also to ensure the health of one of the richest and most fragile environments on the planet.
Turtle. Photo: Freepik.
What are the characteristics of charapa turtles?
According to the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), charapa turtles (Podocnemis unifilis and P. expansa) are freshwater aquatic turtles, also known as side-necked turtles, as they cannot fully retract their heads into their shells; instead, they bend their necks sideways to retract them, leaving a part exposed. These species lay their eggs on the sandbanks formed during the dry season along the rivers, preventing the nests from being washed away by the water.
The yellow-spotted river turtle (P. unifilis) is classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, while the South American river turtle (P. expansa) is listed as of Least Concern but as Conservation Dependent. For both species, the main threats to their conservation are the increasing exploitation and commercialization of their eggs for human consumption, as well as the capture and sale of adult individuals.
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