A recent conservation initiative is closely monitoring the return of 20 critically endangered red-crowned roofed turtles in India’s Ganga River, where the species was nearly wiped out, reports Mongabay India’s Manish Chandra Mishra.
The red-crowned roofed turtle (Batagur kachuga), found only in India, Bangladesh and Nepal, was historically widespread in Ganga and its tributaries. But a 2019 assessment found that hunting, illegal trade, habitat loss and river flow changes reduced the turtle’s population by 80% over the previous 50 years. At the time of the assessment, researchers noted the only known remaining population, about 500 adult females, was in the National Chambal Sanctuary, located on Chambal River in Uttar Pradesh (U.P.) state. Chambal is part of the Ganga River system.
In 2021 and 2023, however, residents of two villages in U.P. spotted some red-crowned roofed turtles and their nests in the Ganga outside of Chambal, indicating the turtles were capable of surviving in other parts of the river.
So, in April 2025, conservationists and government authorities moved 20 turtles from the Garheta Turtle Conservation Centre in the National Chambal Sanctuary to two different areas in the Ganga. They released 10 turtles at the Haiderpur wetland, a Ramsar wetland of importance in U.P., while the other 10 were taken to the main Ganga River in the state’s Meerut forest division. Conservationists said they hoped that by splitting the turtles into two groups they could evaluate the best rehabilitation method, Chandra reports.
The translocated turtles were carefully selected based on health, sex and body parameters. They were also tagged with transmitters to enable real-time monitoring of their movements, habitat preferences and behavior.
“This study is the first telemetry-based monitoring effort of these turtles in the Ganga River,” Pawan Shantiprakash Pareek, a researcher with the Turtle Survival Alliance Foundation India, told Mongabay India. The group coordinates the project and monitors the movement of turtles.
“The transmitter fitted on each turtle gives information to the scientists about which direction the turtle is moving in, which place it is adapting to and how it is behaving,” Pareek said. “From this data, it will be analyzed how this species is adapting itself to the circumstances after entering the Ganga and what threats it is facing.”
The turtle rehabilitation teams are also getting help from the sadhus (Hindu holy men) living on the banks of the Ganga in the turtle’s conservation efforts.
“People listen to these sadhus,” Pareek said. “If they say that the turtles are sacred, people will stop fishing and hunting. Currently, more than 20 sadhus are helping in this work. Illegal activities have reduced considerably in the areas around their ashram.”
Read the full story by Manish Chandra Mishra here.
Banner image: Red-crowned roofed turtles released into the river have been tagged with transmitters to monitor their safety and migration. Image courtesy of Turtle Survival Alliance Foundation India.
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