Laurenţiu Rozylowicz

Securing the Future of Hermann Tortoise in South West Romania

LocationCountryCategoriesDate
Eşelniţa, Mehedinţi CountyRomaniaCentral and Latin America, Pet trade, Reptiles24 Jun 2008

Although the Hermann's Tortoise (Testudo hermanni subsp. boettgeri) is strictly protected, the species didn't fully enjoy the biologists' attention, being studied occasionally. The population is declining due to the habitats degradation, killings caused by the local people, cropping for pet animals etc. The mortality is high and it's amplified by the species' biology.

The project aims to reduce threats on the Hermann's tortoise in Romania. The first activity would be to assess the conservation degree that will be submitted to IUCN-Committee, and it will be promoted through the mass media and the project website. The assessment, compulsory for the conservation policies, shall be performed using the IUCN-RAMAS-Red-List software and it will include previous results and new data obtained from the activity regarding the habitats occupation degree. If our previous work focused on the species natural history, the last stage of this flag specie will include mainly work with the communities and the establishment of a sustainable system for reintroduction of the individuals accidentally found outside their habitat (abandoned individuals), who might not resist outside the area (SW-Romania).

So far, without focusing on this aspect and having no plan and quarantine facilities, we faced the situation of reintroducing 21 individuals. We will establish a procedure and purchase equipments in order to save as many individuals as possible. We will establish a special site for species determination and the procedures to follow, in order to discourage the abandon and to avoid species confusions. Educational campaign shall be extensive, trying to consolidate the local population awareness.

The activity shall focus on school meetings, CD-ROM production "Hermann's tortoise needs your help", webpage update with recent information and results. A quarantine area shall be created for the abandoned tortoises that we find and a reintroduction protocol. All activities will be disseminated in local and national media. The webpage will include a section for the people to know how to act when they find/abandon tortoises in order to be able to save as many individuals as possible.

You can read about Laurenţiu's previous RSG project at http://www.ruffordsmallgrants.org/rsg/projects/rozylowicz_lauren_iu or for more information contact rozylowicz@gmail.com or go to www.portiledefier.ro/carapax

Project Update: January 2009

Iulian Niculae downloading data from a tortoise.

Starting in May 2008 we started some of the activities funded by this grant. We managed to evaluate the species' conservation status, using the IUCN and NatureServe systems. This is the first national evaluation, showing that the species is Endangered B1a,b(i,ii,iii). The analysis was prepared for publication in a national scientific journal, and press releases were prepared. We are preparing information accessible to the large audience that will be posted on the internet.

The assessment of habitat occupancy presented good results using novel equipment (http://www.telemetrysolutions.com/customer-testimonials.php)

Starting this winter, we are deploying an educational campaign in schools within the tortoises' range, until now having half of the scheduled meetings. The project's webpage was updated with complete information on the tortoises. It is visible and used, having from July 2008 625 unique visits. We received four requests for reintroducing abandoned tortoises outside the area, which came following information available on the webpage.

Project Update: May 2009

Meeting with children in school in the Iron Gates Natural Park.

Tortoise portrait after hibernation period.

Within the last four months we have finalized almost all the project’s activities and we have finished the scientific evaluation of the species’ conservation status that was sent to IUCN's Chelonian Specialist Group.

After processing and summarizing the technical report, a scientific article was sent for peer-review to North-Western Journal of Zoology, with the title Assessment of threatened status of Testudo hermanni boettgeri Mojsisovics, 1889 (Reptilia: Testudines: Testudinidae) populations from SW Romania by Laurentiu Rozylowicz and Mariana Dobre.

We have written a press release that was circulated in Romania through the media. Also, we have evaluated the habitat occupancy, by sampling GPS points and temperatures for 4 tortoises (2 males and 2 females) between May 2008 and April 2009. We have finished the quarantine infrastructure for the tortoises that are recuperated from outside their habitat. Between December 2008 and April 2009, 4 tortoises have been recuperated and kept in quarantine.

The tortoises were brought to us by some people that have contacted us after seeing the project’s webpage. We have almost finished the CD Hermann's Tortoise Needs Your Help and we have finished the web page that now includes a complete guide for identifying the Romanian’s tortoises that can be used by people without a biological background in order to identify the encountered tortoises and also to be able to give them the first aid if needed.

Final Report

Read about the activities undertaken and findings of this project in the final report below.

File DownloadSize
Final Report.doc727.5 KB
Detailed Final Report.pdf411.25 KB

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