Meet the Mary River turtle
The Mary River turtle lives in just one river system in south-east Queensland. Algae often grows in long strands on its head and shell, giving older turtles a wild green 'hairdo' that has earned it the nicknames punk turtle and green-haired turtle.
Its party trick is cloacal respiration: special gill-like structures inside the cloaca (the turtle's rear opening) let it absorb oxygen from the water. That lets it stay submerged for up to about three days at a time, which is why it needs clean, flowing, well-oxygenated water.
In the 1960s and 70s, thousands of hatchlings were sold in pet shops around Australia as 'penny turtles', often as Christmas presents, with no one knowing where they came from. Sydney reptile expert John Cann spent years searching for the source and finally tracked the collector to Maryborough in 1984. The species was formally described by Cann and John Legler in 1994; the name Elusor reflects how long it eluded science, and macrurus means 'large tail'.
It is a slow-living turtle: females take around 25 years and males around 30 years to mature. Females lay one clutch of about 12 to 25 eggs a year in sandy banks, where foxes, dogs and feral pigs can destroy most nests, so community groups such as Tiaro and District Landcare run nest-protection programs.
Where it lives
Found only in the Mary River catchment of south-east Queensland, in the hinterland north of Brisbane through the Sunshine Coast and Fraser Coast regions. It lives in flowing, well-oxygenated stretches of river with sandy banks for nesting.