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Continuing problems for Amazon river turtles

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 April 2009

Andrew D. Johns
Affiliation:
Sub-Department of Veterinary Anatomy, University of Cambridge, Tennis Court Road, Cambridge CB2 1QS, UK.
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Abstract

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Amazon river turtles have a long history of over-exploitation, firstly for oil production, and lately as a luxury food for the expanding human population. In many areas, the populations of the two main commercial species Podocnemis expansa and P. unifilis are now so low that extinction is in sight. In 1985 a WWF-US project aimed at investigating interactions between economic development and wildlife populations conducted a case-study of the exploitation of turtles on the River Tefé in western Brazilian Amazonia.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Fauna and Flora International 1987

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