tripreport Sri Lanka

For your reports/images, made outside Europe and the "Mediterranean" countries. Not to be too narrow minded and limited to our European/Mediterranean herps.

Re: tripreport Sri Lanka

Postby Ilian Velikov » Wed Jan 10, 2018 11:19 pm

lakiere pieter wrote:Very close to Wilpattu national parc. Along an unplaved route close to a little farming community. I asked myself the same question. Is it common here? So I asked the locals about it. They told me they see them sometimes. We don't like to see turtles on our farmland when we just planted crops. They eat the young plants was there answer. We don't like to kill them but often they get killed accidently by fire. A few days later I found a shell from a turtle on farmland. I could see it was burned a
life. What a pity. So I think that specie is only locally common. It was found few hundred meters from the national parc.


I think that, as it is often the case, that the damage tortoises do to the crops is overestimated by the locals. I doubt that they intentionally seek the crops especially with that much other vegetation available and I doubt there is such a big concentration of tortoises in one place that they can do any significant damage. I'm sure invertebrates are far more destructive in this case. It is reassuring that the locals "don't like to kill them" and I hope it is true. As for the fire casualties, yes it's a shame but I wouldn't think that's a major threat to the species. Anyway, you should consider yourself lucky to find this beautiful individual. Good job!
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Re: tripreport Sri Lanka

Postby Ilian Velikov » Wed Jan 10, 2018 11:23 pm

lakiere pieter wrote:I only found one land turtle.

Any aquatic ones?
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Re: tripreport Sri Lanka

Postby lakiere pieter » Wed Jan 10, 2018 11:54 pm

Ilian Velikov wrote:
lakiere pieter wrote:I only found one land turtle.

Any aquatic ones?


Yes one melanochelys trijuga the same night I found the python and krait. Unfortunatly no pictures. It jumped into the stream at the edge of Sinharaja rainforest.
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Re: tripreport Sri Lanka

Postby Guillaume Blanchet » Fri Jan 12, 2018 6:14 am

Hi Pieter,

Thanks for the detailed answer.
Interesting observation, well "who knows", even if I think Ruggero comment is making more sense.
Water ponds and rivers are good ambush sites and if you had a direct access to it means other "big" animals and potential preys can have it too. This species is known to use water during night for thermoregulation (in Florida at least).

After, I'm curious to know if the "giant' retics from South-east Asia documented to attack Agta people were using specifically frequented human path as ambush sites...
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Re: tripreport Sri Lanka

Postby Ruggero M. » Fri Jan 12, 2018 9:08 pm

Guillaume Blanchet wrote:Hi Pieter,

Thanks for the detailed answer.
Interesting observation, well "who knows", even if I think Ruggero comment is making more sense.
Water ponds and rivers are good ambush sites and if you had a direct access to it means other "big" animals and potential preys can have it too. This species is known to use water during night for thermoregulation (in Florida at least).

After, I'm curious to know if the "giant' retics from South-east Asia documented to attack Agta people were using specifically frequented human path as ambush sites...


Paths frequented by humans are surely also frequented by rats, cats, poultry, dogs, human kids and obviously wild animals too.
No surprise at all if big retics use to frequent those paths too and ambush their preys there. ;)
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