Baby western swamp tortoises set for release into wild (Australia) – via Herp Digest

By Loukas Fountain, ABC.net.au/news, 7/10/17 

Three of Australia's rarest reptiles have been given a health check as they prepare to move from captivity into the wild.

Adelaide Zoo is one of just two zoos worldwide to house and breed the western swamp tortoise.

The zoo is celebrating a successful breeding season, which saw four baby tortoises hatching, each the size of a coin.

Native to Western Australia, in the mid-1980s it was estimated there were fewer than 50 tortoises left in the wild.

They now only live in the wild in two small habitats in the Swan Valley, north-east of Perth.

Zoos SA received its first western swamp tortoises as part of an agreement with Perth Zoo in 2003, but breeding did not start for several years due to issues with incubation.

Since 2012, Zoos SA has successfully bred and raised 16 of the reptiles, with nine already making the journey back to WA to be released into the wild.

The reptile was thought to have been extinct for more than 100 years until a random discovery in 1953.

"It really was a chance discovery. A kid took one into a country fair, it was identified as a swamp tortoise and things have progressed from there," Zoos SA reptile keeper John Della said.

Perth Zoo has since bred more than 800 of the tortoises and released 600 into four separate nature reserves.

Adelaide Zoo has eight adult breeding tortoises, all from Perth Zoo, and three were born last year.

Those three are being prepared to move back to Perth in September, but were woken from a six month hibernation period on Monday to be cleaned, weighed and returned to a pond to gain weight ahead of their move.

"Most tortoises would hibernate over winter in the cooler months," Mr Della said.

"These guys need to aestivate over summer because that's when their ponds dry out and they've got no water, so they'll find some nice leaf litter to bury themselves in and basically sleep there until the rains come.

"Then they go back to their ponds, their food sources come back and they can start breeding.”

It takes about three years for keepers to determine the gender of each tortoise and the reptiles will not breed until they are aged about seven.

Later this month, Perth Zoo will send another breeding pair to Adelaide to be housed at Monarto Zoo, near Murray Bridge.