Filters
Establishing a Freshwater Turtle (Emydura subglobosa) Laboratory Line (FTLL) as a novel model species for research and education
2024, Rawski, Mateusz, Kierończyk, Bartosz, Skrzypczak, Paula, Mazurkiewicz, Jan
<b>The Jardine River turtle (Emydura subglobosa) was selected as a potential model species for studies on freshwater turtles and general reptile physiology. Attempts to establish a freshwater turtle laboratory line were made when an adult pair of E. subglobosa was received in 2016 by the Laboratory of Inland Fisheries and Aquaculture (Poznań University of Life Sciences). The first generation of offspring was obtained in 2017, and the second generation in 2023. In each generation, unrelated specimens were added to the animal cohort to avoid inbreeding. Husbandry regimes were established, and a basal diet for nutritional experiments was developed and manufactured by two methods, producing extruded feed and a gelatine-solidified variant. The establishment of the Freshwater Turtle Laboratory Line (FTLL) provides an opportunity to improve the development of husbandry techniques, increase knowledge of reptile physiology, and use laboratory-raised animals as model species for research and education.