THE GREEN-HAIRED MARY TURTLE IS IN DANGER OF EXTINCTION

What you see in the image is real, that turtle has hair, or almost. To this reptile, most people place it as the  punk turtle  because of its peculiar hair. But it is actually an endemic reptile of the Mary River ( Elusor macrurus ) in southeastern Queensland in Australia, which unfortunately has just entered the list of animals that are in danger of extinction.

Officially, the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) has included it in its list of reptiles in danger of extinction, occupying the 30th place in the list Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) of the ZSL, in the category of reptiles. These are among the most vulnerable species, compared to birds and mammals.

This spice can be kept up to three days under water, without coming to the surface. So what was it that caused me to enter this list? The answer is simple: annually, for ten years, more than 15,000 pups were captured to be sold in pet stores in Australia , until they reached this point of almost extinguishing them.

The turtle Mary is unique in its kind

This uniqueness was achieved thanks to that 40 million years ago, approximately, it was separated from the rest. In this way he maintained unique characteristics such as:

• It measures 40 cm long
• It has gill-like organs inside its anus, which it uses to breathe, mate and excrete. 
• It can stay underwater for three days in a row, thanks to its type of gills.
• It has a very long tail , which grows up to 70% more than its carapace.
• Under his chin he has two rows of tubers.
• The coordinator of the EDGE , Rikki Gumbs, said that species such as Elusor macrurus are among the few that have survived and that come from very ancient lineages.