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Note: Ploughshare Tortoise (Astrochelys yniphora) natural entrapment

Article in Herpetology Notes · October 2015

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Herpetology Notes, volume 8: 485-487 (2015) (published online on 03 October 2015)
Ploughshare Tortoise (Astrochelys yniphora) natural entrapment
Andrea Currylow1,*, Andrew D. Walde2, Fidelis Filazaha3, Angelo Mandimbihasina4
and Lance Woolaver4
The Ploughshare Tortoise (Astrochelys yniphora;
Vaillant, 1885) is the largest extant endemic tortoise
on the island of Madagascar. The species is isolated
to a small area of mixed palm-savanna, bamboo-scrub,
and dry deciduous forest of less than 160 km2 on the
northwest coast (Mandimbihasina and Woolaver, 2014).
Due to its rarity and attractive golden carapace, it has
become an obsession among rare-wildlife collectors.
This pressure from the international pet trade and its
highly restricted distribution has given the Ploughshare
Tortoise the unfortunate privilege of being the most
endangered tortoise on the planet (Juvik et al., 1981;
Hoogmoed and Vliet, 1985; Curl, 1986; Rhodin et al.,
2011; Kiester et al., 2013).
The greatest risk to the survival of a wild chelonian
population is the loss of the adults, which solely
contribute to the sustainability of a population (Congdon
et al., 1993; 1994; Doak et al., 1994). Adults are now
beginning to be more commonly found for sale in illicit
online pet markets and recent population surveys have
shown a significant decline of the wild adult population
(Kiester et al., 2013; Mandimbihasina and Woolaver,
2014). Because the life-history of tortoises include
delayed maturity coupled with an extremely long
generation time equating to a slow reproductive rate,
reproductive adults are critical to the recovery of the
1
Department of Biological Science, University of Southern
California, Los Angeles, California, USA
2
Turtle Survival Alliance, Ft. Worth, Texas, USA
3
Comité Local du Parc, Baly Bay National Park, Soalala,
Boeny Region, Madagascar
4
Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust,
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Ampasanimalo, BP 8511 Antananarivo 101, Madagascar
* Corresponding author e-mail: a.currylow@gmail.com
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population (Pedrono et al., 2004). Therefore, it is crucial
that adult animals remain in good health within the wild
populations. Herein, we describe an adult Ploughshare
Tortoise found in peril in the wild.
As part of ongoing monitoring studies of Malagasy
tortoises (Currylow, 2014; Mandimbihasina and
Currylow, 2014; Walker et al., 2014), we have been
conducting radiotelemetry tracking of wild Ploughshare
Tortoises since early 2012. On 9 March 2014 at
16h30, we discovered an adult male Ploughshare
Tortoise entrapped between two young Combretaceae
trees, Terminalia boivinii. The animal had apparently
attempted to traverse the gap when the width of its
shell prevented clearance. Upon attempts to free
itself, the animal scraped the earth away from under
its feet, causing it to become suspended in place and
hopelessly entrapped (Figure 1). We are unaware of
how long the animal remained in that position before
we found and freed it. At the time of discovery, the
ground temperature was 32.2 °C, air temperature 31.2
°C, ground humidity 88.8%, cloud cover 10%, and
canopy cover over the animal was estimated at 80%.
The nearest conspecifics found that day were two adult
females radio-tracked within one hour and which were
no more than 200 meters from the entrapped male. All
three animals were in microhabitat classified as dense
bamboo and shrub thicket at the time of encounter.
A growing urban-wildlife interface means it is not
terribly unusual for wild animals to become inadvertently
entrapped, especially due to anthropogenic habitat
alterations or devices. For example, in 1992 dozens
of the closely related Radiated Tortoise (Astrochelys
radiata) succumbed to overexposure in southern
Madagascar when they fell into an inadvertently created
pitfall trap as part of new road construction (Goodman
et al., 1994). Cattle grates along livestock fences
also act as pitfall traps, trapping and killing Angulate
Tortoises (Chersina angulata) and Padloper Tortoises
486
Figure 1. An adult male Ploughshare Tortoise (Astrochelys yniphora: AY0021M) found suspended between two small trees
within its native range in northwest Madagascar. (Photographed by FF).
(Homopus sp.) in South Africa (J. Juvik pers. comm.).
More exceptional however, are the instances such as
that reported herein where herpetofauna may perish
through becoming naturally entrapped. Rorabaugh
(2003) described a Common Chuckwalla (Sauromalus
ater) which became skewered by an agave plant after
an apparent fall or leap from a nearby rock outcrop.
Wilson and Topham (2009) report discovering two
separate Mojave Desert Tortoise (Gopherus agassizii)
carcasses wedged vertically (head-down) in basalt flow
rock fractures, apparently having died from exposure
after falling and becoming stuck in the rock crack. This
latter observation is similar in nature to one made by
Riedle et al. (2010), whereby two of 29 radio-tracked
Desert Tortoises tumbled down a steep rocky hillside
in the Sonoran Desert, leading to their eventual death
from apparent overexposure as they were unable to right
themselves in the rocky terrain.
Like many tortoise species, the Ploughshare Tortoise
has adapted to undergo months-long periods of
inactivity during the dry season. However, because
these animals live in extreme environments, entrapment
in the wrong place has the potential to turn fatal within
hours. Fortunately, the animal we discovered appeared
to be in good health and was in an area of relatively
high canopy cover, so was likely not at immediate risk
of overexposure to direct sunlight.
Acknowledgements. We thank Dr. Edward Louis, Jr. with
Madagascar Biodiversity Partnership and Madagascar National
Parks for local support of our fieldwork. Funding for associated
Andrea Currylow et al.
fieldwork has been awarded by the Turtle Conservation Fund,
Conservation International, Turtle Conservancy, U.S. Fish
& Wildlife Service, University of Southern California, and
personally by the authors. Equipment donations were provided by
IDEA WILD, the Turtle Survival Alliance, and Holohil Systems
Ltd. We would like to thank the personal support of our efforts by
Drs. A. Ross Kiester, James Juvik, and Craig Stanford.
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Accepted by Gonçalo Rosa

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