Love is in the air at a NSW breeding facility for the critically endangered Manning River turtle, providing conservationists with fresh hope in their bid to save the species from extinction.
The Manning River turtle is only found in the wild in that river and its tributaries on the NSW Mid North Coast.
The species is in decline and an "insurance population" has been established at conservation organisation Aussie Ark's facility at the Australian Reptile Park on the NSW Central Coast.
The program was started five years ago after drought and the Black Summer bushfires put the species, already facing habitat loss and ongoing threats from foxes and feral pigs, at further risk.
Conservationists collected wild eggs and turtles before pairing genetically-suited females with males in large tanks.
Australian Reptile Park breeding program manager Billy Collett said he was thrilled to witness the courtship and breeding of multiple pairs.
"This is a massive historical moment for Aussie Ark," Mr Collett said.
"Bang! We just paired one day and then all of a sudden one of our males was hooking into the girls, so it was really successful and very exciting.
"We were cheering, I know it sounds weird but for critically endangered species it is so important, so vital."
Turtles carefully monitored
Manning River turtles usually mate in autumn, so they were monitored in recent weeks for behavioural changes.
"We go right, that boy is on a mission so we select a female, put her in, and normally straight away the boy goes straight in and starts touching her on the nose ... climbs on top and that's it," Mr Collett said.
"They just mated literally flat out, on and off, for days and days and days."
The females are rotated as they outnumber the males.
Mr Collett said encouraging genetic diversity was important as the turtles were from a small catchment area.
"It was all hands on deck for about eight weeks straight ... every single day just pairing and unpairing, and watching and monitoring," he said.
"Geez it was exciting, we learnt so much about the species."
Waiting for eggs
The successful mating season is expected to yield a healthy clutch of between eight to 12 eggs for each female turtle.
"When she's ready she'll climb up, dig a hole and drop maybe a dozen or so eggs in there, cover them over and that will be it — she won't guard them at all," Mr Collett said.
The team will then collect the eggs and artificially incubate them.
"I don't want to jinx myself, but I have a really good feeling for this nesting season that we're going to have a stack of baby Manning River turtles," Mr Collett said.
Aussie Ark released its first 10 captive-bred turtles back into the Manning River in October last year.
It was also considered a milestone moment in the conservation program.
"You're literally saving a species from extinction when it comes to conservation that's as good as it gets," Mr Collett said.
Manning River turtles were spotted in the wild late last year for the first time since 2019.
