In early 2001 The National Aquarium (Baltimore, Maryland) is sponsoring an expedition to south western Venezuela to obtain specimens of the red-headed river turtle, Podocnemis erythrocephala. The Baltimore Zoo, The Tortoise Reserve and Venezuelan biologists will also be involved with the field work. The main goals of this effort are to provide additional breeding stock for North American public zoos and aquariums. While a number of these turtles currently reside in public institutions all are offspring from a single small group imported years ago, and it is feared that the continued inbreeding of this stock will result in gradual genetic deterioration. The Tortoise Reserve has played a key role in setting up this program and as a backup additional adults will be collected and maintained in our captive breeding facilities in Venezuela. Young from these animals will be raised to four inches and made available to the pet trade. Funds generated from this program will be used to help sustain our growing conservation efforts in Venezuela. This captive group will also serve as a research population for the Venezuelan government.

This is the smallest species of Podocenemys with a carpace length of only 32 cm. Bright red markings occur on the heads of juveniles and adult females making this species one of the most striking of turtles. It does well in captivity.

This turtle is primarily a species of backwater streams and rivers and is geographically restricted to a small area of Venezuela and Brazil with a single verified occurrence from the Orinoco drainage of Columbia. In the last year a number of these turtles were imported from Guinea and are currently being bred in the United States by a single reptile dealer. At this time none are available in the market. The Guinea import is an example of an interesting dilemma which has developed as a result of variations in wildlife regulations between countries. Guinea is outside the documented distribution of the species, but its natural occurrence there can not be ruled out. While the presence of a disjunct, previously unknown population is exciting from a zoogeographic perspective, the presence of this turtle in Guinea will remain suspect for some time because of the economic situation associated with this discovery.