(MY) river terrapins (cont.)

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Tuesday February 21, 2006 - The Star

 

 

Enhancing the reproduction process

 

By HILARY CHIEW

 

Dr Gerald Kuchling was looking forward to scanning a gravid river

terrapin after lugging a 25kg ultrasound machine from Perth to

Thailand and then to Terengganu over four weeks.

 

Instead, he counted his blessings when he retrieved the RM45,600

machine in one piece from the flooded field station at Pasir Kumpal,

two days after he was evacuated from the inundated site.

 

The turtle reproductive expert from Australia was offering his

expertise in ultrasound scanning to the Kolej Universiti of Sains dan

Teknologi (Kustem) Turtle Research and Rehabilitation Unit.

 

Since his arrival on Feb 8 however, he has not gotten any nesting

female to scan. The technique, modified from the ultrasound-scanning

machine used on pregnant women, was developed by the University of

Western Australia researcher in 1987.

 

It was instrumental in saving the western swamp tortoise from the

brink of extinction. There were fewer than 50 individuals and the

small number of females had not laid eggs for six years.

 

Using the ultrasound, Kuchling found that the turtles lacked food

supplies needed to mature their follicles. The problem was rectified.

 

Subsequently, the tortoise (Pseudemydura umbrina) began laying eggs

and to date, over 80 captive-bred youngs have been returned to the

wild.

 

The ultrasound method is now widely used in by turtle conservation

programmes. It will allow the ovarian follicles to be counted and

measured, enabling inferences on the clutches of egg which will be

laid in the nesting season.

 

Kuchling fears that artificial incubation of eggs by the Perhilitan

captive-breeding centres over the years could have resulted in the

release of sex-biased terrapins to the wild.

 

He has visited Malaysia three times since 2004. During his first two

trips, he imparted a sex-determination skill called laparoscopy, which

involves insertion of an endoscope into the body cavity to determine

the sex of the terrapin.

 

He applied the technique to captive-bred terrapins at Perhilitan

facilities in Bota Kanan in Perak and Bukit Paloh in Terengganu, as

well as at Kustem's project.

 

" Different incubation techniques produced different sex ratios.

Initial investigation showed that Perhilitan centres produced

female-biased hatchlings, " he said, adding that further investigation

is needed to understand the consequences of captive-breeding

programmes.