Gerald Kuchling

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Gerald Kuchling (born December 22, 1952 ) is an Austrian - Australian herpetologist who specializes in the research and conservation of endangered turtle species . He has an exceptional contribution to the protection of species Pseudemydura umbrina in Australia, Erymnochelys madagascariensis in Madagascar , Batagur trivittata in Myanmar and Rafetus swinhoei in China purchased and also worked at the protection of Chelodina mccordi , Elusor macrurus , Astrochelys yniphora , Pyxis planicauda and others . One species -  Chelodina kuchlingi (Kuchling's snake- necked tortoise ), which is found in Kimberley, Western Australia - is named after him.

biography

Kuchling studied zoology and physiology at the University of Vienna . From 1972 to 1975 he worked as a research assistant in the Natural History Museum in Vienna . In 1979 he completed his doctorate at the University of Vienna with a thesis on the Greek tortoise . After a post-doc at the University of Göttingen , he worked in Madagascar from 1984.

In 1987 he went to Australia with his wife, the author and artist Guundie Kuchling , to save the pointed turtle ( Pseudemydura umbrina ) from extinction. The species had a worldwide population of less than 50 specimens and has not yet been reproduced in captivity. Kuchling succeeded at the Zoo from Perth to increase the species, and from 1994 auszuwildern again.

In the 1990s he developed a strategy for the conservation of the Madagascar rail turtle ( Erymnochelys madagascariensis ).

Kuchling worked as a researcher in the Department of Environment and Conservation of Western Australia and as a senior lecturer at the School of Animal Biology at the University of Western Australia .

In 2002 he rediscovered the Burmese roof turtle ( Batagur trivittata ) after the last specimen was sighted in 1935, and initiated a breeding program at the Mandalay Zoo .

Since 2007, Kuchling has been leading the breeding program for the Yangtze River giant soft turtle ( Rafetus swinhoei ) in the Changsha and Suzhou zoos .

Works

Monographs (selection)

  • The Reproductive Biology of the Chelonia . Berlin / Heidelberg: Springer, 1999; ISBN 978-3-642-80416-8 .
  • (with Andrew A. Burbridge) Western Swamp Tortoise ( pseudemydura umbrina ) Recovery Plan . Department of Conservation and Land Management, 2004; ISSN 0816-9713.

Article (selection)

  • Endoscopic Sex Determination in Juvenile Freshwater Turtles, Erymnochelys madagascariensis: Morphology of Gonads and Accessory Ducts. In: Chelonian Conservation and Biology (2006) 5 (1): 67-73.
  • (with Anders GJ Rhodin, Bonggi R. Ibarrondo, Colin R. Trainor) A New Subspecies of the Snakeneck Turtle Chelodina mccordi from Timor-Leste (East Timor). In: Chelonian Conservation and Biology (2007) 6 (2): 213-222.
  • (with Keith Morris, Manda Page, Rebecca Kay, Juanita Renwick, Anthony Desmond, Sarah Comer, Allan Burbidge, Collen Sims) Forty years of fauna translocations in Western Australia: lessons learned. In: Doug Armstrong, Matthew Hayward, Dorian Moro, Philip Seddon (eds.): Advances in Reintroduction Biology of Australian and New Zealand Fauna . Csiro, 2015; S. 2017ff; ISBN 1486303021 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Gerald Kuchling Receives 4th Annual Behler Turtle Conservation Award International Union for Conservation of Nature , February 9, 2010.
personal data
SURNAME Kuchling, Gerald
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austro-Australian herpetologist
DATE OF BIRTH December 22, 1952