“Scientists studying the world’s largest river turtles, a South American species that grows to a length of nearly a meter, or 3 feet, have found the largest nesting aggregation ever recorded.

Using drones to conduct a population survey in the western Brazilian Amazon, researchers recorded a nesting area of the endangered giant South American river turtle (Podocnemis expansa) with roughly 41,000 adult female turtles. The nesting site is on the largest sandbank of the Guaporé River, which forms part of the border between Brazil and Bolivia…

Ferrara said the survey was an undercount of the full region’s turtle population since five other smaller nearby beaches were not included, nor were young or male turtles counted.

The turtle population in the area has been growing since at least 2014, a win that Ferrara attributes to the work of the Brazilian government’s 40-year-old Amazon River Turtle conservation program in collaboration with local communities.”

From Mongabay.