Australo-American Side-Necked Turtles: Chelidae

The World Conservation Union (IUCN) lists three species as Critically Endangered, or facing an extremely high risk of extinction, or death, in the wild, and four as Endangered, or facing a very high risk of extinction. Six are Vulnerable, meaning that they face a high risk of extinction, and eight are Near Threatened, meaning that they face the risk of becoming extinct in the near future. One of the Critically Endangered turtles is the western swamp turtle, of which fewer than four hundred individuals survived in 2003, and all live in a few small areas of Brazil. Another turtle, called Hoge's side-necked turtle, is also very rare, existing in just a few spots in the same country. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lists two species as Endangered. The main reason for concern about these species is loss of their habitat, through either damage or complete destruction. Efforts are under way to save these threatened species from extinction by removing them from the wild and breeding them in captivity, possibly for future release back into the wild.