The Sex Pistols reckon they invented punk in the 1970s but Australia had its own mohawk-wearing rebels thousands of years before anyone had ever heard of Johnny Rotten.
With fleshy barbels like spiked piercings under its chin and an uncanny ability to breathe through its genitals, the Mary River turtle was thrust into the international spotlight overnight.
This is because the striking creature was placed on the Zoological Society of London’s (ZSL) Evolutionary Distinct and Globally Endangered (Edge) Reptiles list, meaning it is now one of the most endangered reptile species on the planet.
Native to Queensland and the Sunshine Coast river it is named after, the Mary River turtle has a head crowned by vertical strands of algae that also grow on its body. In addition, it sports face furniture in the form of long fleshy growths under its chin.
However, perhaps the Mary River turtle’s most unusual feature is its ability to breath through its genitals.
The turtle has gill-like organs within its cloaca — a multipurpose orifice used by reptiles for excretion and mating — that allow it to stay underwater for up to three days.
The turtle, which measures up to 40 cm (about 16 inches), is only found in the Mary River in Queensland.
Its docile nature — more hippy than punk — historically made it a popular pet. In the 1960s and 1970s its nest sites were mercilessly pillaged for the pet trade.
Today, the Mary River turtle is one of the world’s most endangered turtle species.
Other Aussie reptiles appeared on the Edge list, with eight species making the top 100, and seven of those appearing in the top 40.
These include the critically endangered western swamp tortoise, the pig-nosed turtle and the Gulbaru gecko, a critically endangered Queensland species that was only discovered in 2001.
Conservationists have today attacked the federal government’s threatened-species strategy, which targets 20 mammals, 20 birds and 30 plants, but no reptiles.
“Australia is one of the richest places in the world when it comes to reptile biodiversity, yet our federal government’s threatened species strategy doesn’t even include reptiles,” Australian Conservation Foundation policy analyst James Trezise told The Guardian.
“It is an entire class of species missing from the current national recovery efforts.”
The Edge program uses a complex formula to award a threat score to unusual species at risk of extinction.
The Mary River turtle ranks number 30 in the league table of 572 reptiles. Top of the list is one of its cousins, the Madagascan big-headed turtle, with an Edge score higher than that of any other amphibian, bird or mammal.
Other standout species include the Round Island keel-scaled boa from Mauritius that can change color and is the only vertebrate known to have a hinged upper jaw, and the minute leaf chameleon, from Madagascar, which measures just 3 cm (about 1.2 inches).
“Reptiles often receive the short end of the stick in conservation terms, compared with the likes of birds and mammals,” Edge reptiles co-ordinator Rikki Gumbs told PA.
“Just as with tigers, rhinos and elephants, it is vital we do our utmost to save these unique and too often overlooked animals.
“Many Edge reptiles are the sole survivors of ancient lineages whose branches of the Tree of Life stretch back to the age of the dinosaurs.
“If we lose these species, there will be nothing like them left on Earth.”
— With John von Radowitz from PA