Turtles and Monks in Cambodia

Between trekking with gibbons and visiting Tonle Sap’s floating villages, we spent a few days in Kratie, where Conservation International works with communities to protect the endangered Cantor’s giant softshell turtle.

Young turtles are safely kept in a newly built conservation center located on the grounds of Wat Sorsor Mouy Roy, a famous Buddhist temple. The temple’s monks work at the center and educate the community, as Buddhist philosophy encourages environmental conservation.

Softshell turtles are really weird. The shells are wafer thin around the edges, and soft on the top and bottom. Adults can grow to 6' diameter (weighing up to 110 pounds) and have a ferocious bone crushing bite. Luckily, we only saw juveniles! They spend 95% of their time lying motionless, buried in sand, surfacing twice each day for air.

As is often the case, humans are the main threat. Eggs and turtles alike are collected and sold in markets. We loved seeing monks, local villagers, and Conservation International staff working together to protect nests and educate others about this species. “Turtle tourism” often provides economic incentives for conservation (we loved releasing Olive Ridley hatchlings in Mexico last year!) and hopefully this will begin to develop in Cambodia as well.