Turtles backpacking the Murray
GPS technology fitted to the backs of turtles is helping track threatened species in the Murray River at Echuca.
Turtles fitted with GPS 'backpacks' are helping scientists from Victoria's Arthur Rylah Institute track the movement of threatened turtle species and protect important nesting sites.
Nine threatened Broad-shelled turtles (Chelodina expansa) and four Common Long-necked turtles (Chelodina longicollis) have been fitted with the global positioning equipment, which is the size of a matchbox and weighs around 60 grams.
A GPS data logger and VHF transmitter are attached to the top of the turtle's shell and fitted around its middle so as not to interfere with mating.
"I think for the first couple of days the turtle is a bit unsure, thinking 'what's going on?', but there haven't been any side effects," Katie Howard, a threatened fauna ecologist with the Arthur Rylah Institute, told ABC Goulburn Murray's morning program.
The project was initiated by the local Yorta Yorta people, to whom the turtle is of great cultural significance.
"They're hoping to have some on-ground management in relation to the turtles, so we're hoping we'll find some nesting site locations that we can protect from predation by foxes."
The tracking will also allow researchers to investigate how the highly regulated Murray River system affects turtle movement.
"The effect that this regulation has on the turtles isn't really known. During the drought a large number of turtles were dying. If we can find out the movement information, we can release cultural or environmental water flows to areas which are refuge sites."
Defying the stereotype that turtles are slow-moving, one of the turtles being tracked has travelled 40km upstream since the devices were fitted in March.
The GPS equipment will be removed from the thirteen turtles in October.