Australia's unusual western swamp turtle is an oddity under threat

By Chen Ly

A occidental swamp turtle wearing an algae coat

Gerald Kuchling

The occidental swamp turtle, an Australian taxon that occasionally wears a overgarment of algae, is 1 of galore evolutionarily unsocial animals facing a disproportionately precocious menace from quality activity, including clime change.

In a survey that analysed much than 30,000 taxon of birds, mammals and reptiles, Gopal Murali astatine Ben-Gurion University of the Negev successful Israel and his colleagues mapped the planetary hotspots that were location to the astir evolutionarily unsocial and geographically isolated species, including the occidental swamp turtle (Pseudemydura umbrina …