Behind-the-scenes, Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attraction (DBCA)’s Perth Zoo Science staff have been cheering on tiny five-day-old Western Swamp Tortoise hatchlings as they undertake new fitness testing.

With the help of our team, UWA masters student Ha Hoang has been measuring the time it takes a new hatchling to travel a fixed distance.  

The trials involve the tortoises being placed individually at a starting point, whether on sand on in the water, and our teams record the time it takes for them to reach the finish line.

And while the results won’t get the swampies on the podium to claim a gold, silver or bronze, it will help identify how different egg incubation methods can influence the overall strength and fitness of these rare reptiles.   

After a trial, the swampies are given a tasty worm feed to replenish energy!

This is the first breeding season that this innovative conservation research project has been undertaken, and to get accurate results, trials will be ongoing.  

Results from this valuable research will allow our experts to use the best practices moving forward during incubation, to hopefully improve overall survival rates when tortoises are released into the wild.

And considering they are critically endangered in the wild, each individual counts!

Since 1989, Perth Zoo has worked in a collaborative conservation program in the race against extinction for these tiny reptiles. Through the program, we have bred more than 1400 tortoises and more than 1125 have been released into the wild.

Science and conservation managers within DBCA and other partners such as Adelaide Zoo work together to release these zoo-born animals into safe wild habitat.

Stay tuned for more results!