A turtleneck fear to be topically extinct has been found to be   ample   enough to be exuviate its DNA all over Australia ’s highest discharge river . The rediscovery of any species is good news for bionomics , but the chelidae in question is a particular favorite for breathing through its rearward end .

The lower Burdekin river is full and swampy , and its polo-neck spend most of their clip at depth , so it was only in 1990 that TV donor Steve Irwin and his don captured one . On confirmation this was a new metal money it was identify Irwin ’s polo-neck ( Elseya irwini ) . Although later find to inhabit the Burdekin ’s feeder , it has n’t been see in the lower Burdekin for more than 25 years , run to fears it had lose its with child home ground

However , a composition in the journalBMC Ecology and Evolutionhas revealed proof the polo-neck continue present at many locations on the river . The grounds comes in the form of DNA find oneself in water sample collected along the river .

Queensland fresh water turtles , including Irwin ’s , have developed a distinctive method of respiration to avoid having to come in to the surface too often , thus cutting the danger of becoming someone else ’s luncheon . They take in piss through their cloaca ( the hole reptiles and birds use for reproduction and shitting ) . lamella - like structures in their digestive pamphlet capture oxygen dissolved in the weewee .

No known turtle specie can survive purely on its anally - sourced oxygen ; they all have to come to the surface now and then to take in air in the usual manner . However , bum - respiration delays the need to do so . Under the right precondition , some turtles can get 80 percent of their oxygen want this room – although the figure is lower for other metal money .

Bum - breathing requires atomic number 8 - rich pee , however , which requires tight - moving current . It was feared a decameter on the Mary River might drivethat catchment ’s speciesto experimental extinction by lour the O provision . The crusade to finish the dkm , in which theunusual and endangeredturtle took a starring role , was the first time their capacity had become wide known outside herpetological circles .

therefore , there were fears the Burdekin Falls Dam , finish in 1987 , might have started a fatal decline in Irwin ’s turtleneck numbers on that river . However , Dr Cecilia Villacorta - Rath , Professor Damien Burrows , and cobalt - authors sampled 37 sites along the Burdekin River and its tributaries , and the front of polo-neck DNA was found throughout the catchment .

That does n’t mean the turtle is unmoved by the dam . Samples taken in the Broken and Bowen tributary rivers were more oft positive for turtleneck DNA , indicating greater abundance there than below the dam . Nevertheless , turtleneck DNA was find at four sites below the dike , but above the concourse with the Bowen River .

" Until this rediscovery , we did n’t have any courtly records to demonstrate that the Irwin ’s turtle was still living in the lower Burdekin River , and that river has changed a mint since the construction of the Burdekin Falls Dam , " Burrows say in astatement . " It ’s reassuring to know they are still living there . "

Irwin ’s turtles share the lower Burdekin with crocodile , discourage scientist from diving event into the waters . The murk of the river below the dusk makes submersed tv camera useless , and all that bum - ventilation demarcation opportunities to blob them at the open . The mental ability to collect environmental DNA ( eDNA ) and magnify it to the point its source can be determined has proven a game - modifier for feel the polo-neck , just as it has been forextinct human metal money . “ All we had to do was take a   body of water sample   and analyze for their DNA , " Burrowssaid .

" We do n’t know anything about the demographic of this universe , ” Vilacorata - Rathsaid , but the fact they are still alive evidence further work is not fruitless .