BOOYI THE LONG-NECKED TURTLE

Southwestern snake-necked turtle (Chelodina colliei) by Calistemon CC BY SA 4.0

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Blub, blub, blub, blub…

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Oh hello friends, it’s nice to meet you!

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I’m called the long-necked turtle… or the snake-necked turtle… or maybe the oblong turtle? Ooooh I don’t know. How about you just call me Booyi? Yeah, that sounds right. Anyway, so I don’t want to brag, but there are some things I think you should know about me.

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First of all, I’m the top of the food chain in this lake. All I need to do is I coil up my long neck and SNAP! I’ll gobble up frogs, fish, or insects that I come across.

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Second of all, long-neck turtles like me have been around in Australia for a loooong time. We’ve been here for nearly 50 million years and we’re not like any other turtles in the world! We are 100% Australian. 

And because we’ve been around for so long, we know all sorts of things about this country. I can tell from just tiny changes in the weather when it’s time to feed, when it’s time to move, and when it’s time to nest. I usually have my babies through the Kambarang and Birak seasons (September to January), and I’ll probably wander away from my home in the lake to make a nest.

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Now I know you humans mean well, but if you see me walking away from the water, DON’T PICK ME UP AND PUT ME BACK IN! You’re just making things harder for me. If you really want to help, you can move me across those roads you lot have put up everywhere, but only in the direction I’m already going please. Walking on land is hard enough already without my journey getting any longer!

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Well, it’s been loving having a chat, but I’ll be heading back into the water now. It’s so dry up here.

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I look forward to seeing you around my lake!

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Glub, glub, glub, glub…