Bellinger River snapping turtle

The specific name, georgesi, is in honour of Australian herpetologist Arthur Georges. ==Geographic range==

M. georgesi is found in the Bellinger River and its tributaries, mid-eastern New South Wales, Australia. ==Habitat==

The preferred habitat of M. georgesi is the deeper pools of the clear-water upstream reaches of the river, where the water flows continuously in most months over a bedrock basement and a boulder, pebble and gravel bed. The species takes advantage of the highly oxygenated water with low particulate load by supplementing its oxygen uptake through cloacal breathing. ==Diet==

M. georgesi is essentially an omnivore, with tendencies leaning toward carnivory. A high proportion of its food comes from benthic macro-invertebrate communities that are relatively sedentary and live in immediate association with the substratum, but with some terrestrial fruit and aquatic vegetation eaten. ==Reproduction==

M. georgesi nests from October to December, laying 10-15 oblong white hard-shelled eggs. ==Conservation status==

Within the Bellinger drainage, a very restricted range, M. georgesi was formerly widely distributed and locally abundant, with threats to its persistence including habitat modification and loss of native riparian vegetation, associated turbidification and sedimentation, predation by the introduced European fox, and competition with the recently introduced turtle Emydura macquarii. In 2015, more than 90% of the adult population was wiped out by a virus, rendering the animal functionally extinct in the wild; a captive breeding program, with limited reintroduction, is working to re-establish a healthy population. Partially as a result of the extreme population decline caused by the virus (with a 97% mortality rate), the species was listed as critically endangered by the New South Wales Department of Planning and Environment in 2016. As of November 2022, while there is still no cure for the virus, the captive breeding program undertaken by Taronga Zoo and Symbio Wildlife Park has resulted in the release of 82 juvenile turtles back into the wild. ==Gallery==

File:Bellinger River turtle 02 Taronga 2020-03-13.jpg|Front view File:Bellinger River turtle 03 Taronga 2020-03-13.jpg|Side view File:Bellinger River Turtle from behind.png|Back view ==References==