This endangered turtle sports a mohawk—made of algae

HATCHLINGS KNOWN AS “penny turtles” or “pet-shop turtles” were sold in Australian stores in the 1960s and ’70s. Aussie reptile expert John Cann couldn’t figure out the turtle’s species or origin for years—until he saw one in its only native habitat, the Mary River in Queensland. That was just the first of many intriguing discoveries about Elusor macrurus—the Mary River turtle, listed as endangered by the IUCN and other conservation groups. It’s one of Australia’s largest freshwater turtles, topping out at nearly 18 pounds in a 17-inch-long shell. It’s thought to have split from other species about 40 million years ago and is the only species in its genus. It may live to be 100 years old and not start reproducing until it’s 20. And when E. macrurus does breed, the male deploys one part of a multipurpose tail that he also uses to void waste—and to breathe. The tail’s gill-like structures allow the turtle to stay submerged for up to two and a half days without surfacing. “The bum-breathing trait attracts a lot of attention,” says conservationist Marilyn Connell. As a leader of the Mary River turtle conservation project in Queensland’s Tiaro district, Connell is focused on preserving the species, whose population is now mostly older because predators wipe out eggs and hatchlings. In breeding season (October through December), project members prowl the riverbanks to protect nests, Connell says, so the turtle “can continue doing what it’s evolved to do over eons.”
Patricia Edmonds

@Chris VAN WYK, ZSL, AFP

The ‘king of birds’ dresses the part when pursuing a mate


@Vinay CUMAR

Witnessing a mating call is one thing—an actual mating, quite another. It’s sometimes glimpsed at the world’s only captive-breeding program for this pheasant cousin, in Himachal Pradesh. The male sidles up to the female. He deploys his finery: His head sprouts blue horns, his tail feathers fan, his rainbow wattle unfurls. At passion’s peak, he ducks out of view, bursts forth again, rushes the female, mounts—and they mate for 10 seconds. Though brief, it’s effective. During the next six to eight weeks, she’ll lay three to five eggs and hatch them. Captive-bred birds form a reserve as wild populations shrink. The program has about three dozen birds and aims to release some into the wild in 2020.
Patricia Edmonds

Prickly porcupines mate without hurting each other. Here’s how.


WAS AN OBSERVER of the North American porcupine for more than 30 years, Uldis Roze has no idea how many times he has heard this joke. How do porcupines reproduce? Very carefully. That answer is “correct, but not very enlightening,” says Roze, a professor emeritus of biology at New York’s Queens College. In reality, the mating ritual of the quill-covered Erethizon dorsatum is quite elaborate, protracted, and … damp. The species’ annual mating season is in early fall. In her chosen tree, the female signals she’s about ready to breed by secreting an odoriferous substance. Males drawn by the smell fight each other in the tree branches and on the ground below her. The one not knocked out wins mating rights—but the seduction’s not done. To induce estrus in the female, the male squirts her with urine, a few drops at a time. The urine is “propelled at such high velocity,” Roze says, “that even if a male and female are sitting on separate branches in a tree, his urine can reach her.” The male keeps it up—“repeated salvos over many hours,” Roze says—until the female is in the mood. Typically, the two then descend the tree to breed. Quills could make mounting the female a prickly proposition. But when she’s ready, the female curves her tail over her spiky back so her tail’s quill-free underside is facing up, Roze says. The male then can rest his paws on that surface while doing the deed. Approximately seven months later, the female will give birth—in this species, usually a single offspring. Known as a porcupette (read more about the names for baby animals), the baby is born with all its quills but also wrapped in the amniotic sac that smooths the little one’s arrival.
Patricia Edmonds

@Free Image

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