Earlier this week, conservationists released hundreds of thousands of baby turtles into a river at the Amazon border separating Bolivia and Brazil — all in an attempt to preserve the endangered species.
Amazon River turtles have faced an increasing number of threats in recent years. Most of these threats have to do with climate change and human activity, which take a direct toll on their ecosystem and the species’ survival.
“Today in the Guapore or Itenez River, we have a binational project for the protection and conservation of the species, especially the Amazon River turtle,” said Camila Ferrara, a technical supervisor working for the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in the region.
As part of the binational project, biologists and volunteers on both banks of the river have been collecting turtle nests since 2007, reports Reuters. The effort comes in response to the increasing rate of floods in the area which often end up washing the nests away.
After collecting the turtles, the conservationists care for the unhatched eggs and the young turtles before releasing them into the wild. You can watch the recent massive release here.
