Digital image processing: A new tool for morphological measurements of freshwater turtles under rehabilitation.

Freshwater fauna is facing an uphill task for survival in the Ganga Basin, India, due to a range of factors causing habitat degradation and fragmentation, necessitating conservation interventions. As part of the ongoing efforts to conserve the freshwater fauna of the Basin, we are working on rehabilitating rescued freshwater chelonians. We carry out various interventions to restore rescued individuals to an apparent state of fitness for their release in suitable natural habitats.

Population genetics of the critically endangered three-striped turtle, Batagur dhongoka, from the Ganga river system using mitochondrial DNA and microsatellite analysis.

The three-striped roofed (Batagur dhongoka) is a semi-aquatic turtle that belongs to family Geoemydidae. Due to anthropogenic pressure, it has been facing an intense decline of over 80% in its distribution range in the past 50 years. It is considered as 'Critically Endangered' so effective conservation strategies are needed to protect the species by determining their genetic diversity and population genetic structure.