3 February
There is a village called “Limpha Village” upstream in the Chindwin River. Lisu, Naga, Bamar and Shan ethnic peoples reside in the village.
No one can find Limpha on any map. There is no road access, nor electricity in the tiny village. With about 40 households, the village is considered small, but for turtles conservationists, the village is a huge treasure because one of the most-endangered turtles, the ‘roofed turtle”, are found there.
The Limpha field station was established about 12 years ago, after researchers discovered the rare species. The roofed turtles once were found in nearly all rivers in Myanmar. Until 2000, however, experts thought the roofed turtle had become extinct in Myanmar.
In 2000, conservationists found the rare species in the Doakthawady River. The conservationists noticed that the turtles disappeared after the completion of a hydro power plant over the river in 2001.
While scientists thought the Burmese roofed turtle was extinct, Platt and his team found a shell from a freshly killed female roofed turtle in 2001 along the Dokhtawady River near Mandalay, proving that the species still existed.
After the species was found in a lake within the compound of MahaMyatmuni Pagoda in Mandalay, conservationists traced the roofed turtles and finally discovered them in the wild near Limpha Village.
Roofed turtle eggs are very rare. In 2014, just a single viable egg was found. None were discovered the following year. A handful were located in 2016.
Officials note that the reason roofed turtles remain in the area was because local people, whenever they gathered eggs, always left behind a few eggs for the next generation.
Conservationists discovered forty-four roofed turtle eggs recently.
The eggs are now at an incubation site established on the sand bars along the Chindwin River in Myanmar. Fencing surrounds the eggs, which receive 24/7 monitoring from villagers who reside in a nearby hut.
Educating local residents about the endangered turtles has been an important effort, since over-harvesting the eggs contributed to the reptile’s near extinction.
Scientists hope that the 44 eggs will resupply the population of roofed turtles.
The Burmese roofed turtle (Batagur trivittata), one of the most-endangered turtles in Myanmar, is threatened by illegal gold mining, fishing nets, electro fishing, human settlement on their hatching areas and consumption by local people.
Conservationists are educating local people not to kill the turtles, not to eat their eggs, to avoid settling on the sand beach, and not to perform electro fishing.
“If necessary we patrol the area, together with the police,” said Ko Myo Min Win, a local villager and a member of the conservation team at Limpha station, “Without participation by the local people, we can not achieve success. We take pride in the conservation of the roofed turtles.”
By Nyi Tu
(Translated by Gyaw Orwell)
