2025
By the Co-Chairs and Vice-Chairs, Behler/Pritchard Turtle Conservation Award Committee (BPAC), Anders G.J. Rhodin, Rick Hudson, Vivian Páez, Peter Paul van Dijk, and Andrew Walde
Behler Turtle Conservation Award
This year, the 20th annual Behler Turtle Conservation Award celebrates and honors Arthur Georges. Arthur is an Australian ecologist and herpetologist with the University of Canberra. Raised in Queensland, he studied mathematics at the University of Queensland until lured north by physicist Harry Messel as a volunteer on the crocodile research program in Arnhem Land, Northern Territory. There, he discovered the delights of field herpetology. Under the influence of Graeme Webb, he changed fields in his honors year to study head-body temperature differences in skinks.
A Ph.D. on the turtles of Fraser Island cemented the transition, and there was no looking back. His research interests now lie in the evolution, ecology, and systematics of Australian reptiles and, in particular, freshwater turtles. A fundamental interest in these fascinating animals takes him into the field and the laboratory to learn more of their biology and to apply what he has learned in solving contemporary challenges for their conservation. His work has taken him to remote places, including Arnhem Land and the wilds of Papua New Guinea.
He has published over 200 papers and has served as Dean of the Faculty of Applied Science at the University of Canberra and as President of the Australasian Wildlife Management Society and the Australian Society of Herpetologists. For many years, he provided advice on threatened species and ecosystems to the Australian government as Chair of the ACT Scientific Committee. He is a founding Board Member of the Piku Biodiversity Network, which coordinates conservation work in Papua New Guinea, focused especially on freshwater turtles.
Arthur is also a member of the Advisory Review Board for the Turtle Taxonomy Fund, a member of the Turtle Taxonomy Working Group, and a co-author of recent editions of the Turtles of the World Checklist and Atlas. He was recently elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science. He is a well-respected member of our global chelonian conservation and biology community, highly deserving of the Behler Turtle Conservation Award, and we are proud to honor him with this major recognition.
Pritchard Turtle Conservation Lifetime Achievement Awards
We also honor four Pritchard Turtle Conservation Lifetime Achievement Awardees this year, all for their outstanding long-term contributions to turtle conservation and biology: John Carr, for his long-term work on Latin American Wood Turtles and Alligator Snapping Turtles and for his dedication to teaching and mentoring many students; Tint Lwin, for his dedicated and long-time veterinary work with tortoises and turtles in Myanmar, including through the Turtle Survival Alliance’s collaborative rescue, assurance, and captive breeding programs; David Collins, for his long-term focus on turtle conservation and advocacy in the US Zoos and Aquaria community, and his work at the Tennessee Aquarium and Turtle Survival Alliance; and Ross Kiester, for his lifetime of turtle studies, student mentorship, and efforts to advance the conservation mission of the Turtle Conservancy.
We thank all of you for your lifetimes of dedication, perseverance, and achievements in making a major difference for Tortoises and Freshwater Turtles.
We also remember and honor Anton (Tony) Tucker of the USA and Australia, who passed recently, with a Posthumous Turtle Conservation Appreciation Award for his long-term work on Diamondback Terrapins and on chelid turtles in Australia with his longtime partner, Nancy FitzSimmons.
The IUCN SSC Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group (TFTSG) and Turtle Survival Alliance are joined by the Turtle Conservancy and the Turtle Conservation Fund as co-presenters of the Behler and Pritchard awards, bringing together four turtle conservation organizations closely tied to both John Behler’s and Peter Pritchard’s legacies. Additional support for the Behler Award and its honorarium is also gratefully received from the following generous co-sponsors: Re:wild, Andrew Sabin Family Foundation, Chelonian Research Foundation, Congdon-Dickson Turtle Ecology Fund, George Meyer, Brett Stearns, Judith Behler Howells, Deb Behler, Whit Gibbons, and Patricia and Alan Koval.
Congratulations, Arthur, John, Tint, Dave, and Ross—and thank you all for your major efforts on behalf of turtles and their conservation. Your recognition as Behler and Pritchard honorees is highly deserved!
Header image: (from left) Arthur Georges accepts the Behler Turtle Conservation Award from Anders Rhodin and Brad Shaffer. All Photos by Samantha Stephens
2024
By Anders G.J. Rhodin, Rick Hudson, Vivian Páez, Peter Paul van Dijk, and Andrew Walde Co-Chairs and Vice-Chairs, Behler/Pritchard Turtle Conservation Award Committee (BPAC)
Behler Turtle Conservation Award
This year the 19th annual Behler Turtle Conservation Award celebrates and honors Jeffrey E. Lovich. Jeff is a Research Ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, Southwest Biological Science Center in Flagstaff, Arizona. Raised in Virginia, he attended George Mason University, where he met Carl Ernst and started studying turtles, earning an M.S. in biology with Carl as his major advisor. He then attended the University of Georgia for a Ph.D., where he was mentored by Whit Gibbons and Justin Congdon at the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, working on the causes and consequences of sexual size dimorphism in turtles. Subsequently, Jeff wrote two editions of books on turtles of the United States and Canada with Carl, and a recent book on turtles of the world with Whit.
Jeff has been publishing the results of research on the ecology and taxonomy of turtles and other wildlife for 40 years, resulting in over 200 scientific publications and five books. Along the way he described and named four turtle taxa, including three in the US and one in Japan. Most of his research is in the Mojave and Sonoran deserts of California where he has worked for over 30 years. He is a Fulbright Scholar and an elected Fellow of the Linnean Society of London, the world’s oldest active biological society. Jeff has been one of the editors of Chelonian Conservation and Biology for over 10 years. His continuing research focuses on all aspects of turtle ecology, and the impacts of utility-scale wind and solar energy development on wildlife, especially desert tortoises. Jeff is a well-respected member of our global chelonian conservation and biology community and highly deserving of the Behler Turtle Conservation Award, and we are pleased to finally honor him with this major award at this time.
Pritchard Turtle Conservation Lifetime Achievement Award
We also honor four Pritchard Turtle Conservation Lifetime Achievement Awardees this year, all for their outstanding longterm contributions to turtle conservation and biology: Patricia Koval for her key impact on the development, growth, and governance of Turtle Survival Alliance, notably her instrumental support of the Turtle Survival Center, while also being a longterm active champion of global wildlife conservation efforts with other organizations; Herilala Randriamahazo for his longterm conservation efforts focused on Radiated Tortoises and heading up the TSA program in Madagascar; Elliott Jacobson for his outstanding herpetological veterinary expertise, research, and many reptile publications, notably on turtles and tortoises, and mentoring many herpetological veterinarians; and Terry Graham for his longterm ecological studies on New England turtles, notably his early research and efforts to safeguard the Plymouth Red-bellied Turtle population in Massachusetts with an innovative headstarting program and promotion of its federal protection. We thank all of you for your lifetime dedication, perseverance, and achievement in making a major difference for turtles.
We also remember and honor Mehmet Atatür of Turkey, who passed recently, with a Posthumous Turtle Conservation Appreciation Award for his longterm conservation work and seminal publications on Turkey’s chelonians.
The IUCN SSC Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group and Turtle Survival Alliance are joined by the Turtle Conservancy and the Turtle Conservation Fund as co-presenters of the Behler and Pritchard awards, bringing together four turtle conservation organizations closely tied to both John Behler’s and Peter Pritchard’s legacies. Additional support for the Behler Award and its honorarium is also gratefully received from the following generous co-sponsors: Re:wild, Andrew Sabin Family Foundation, Chelonian Research Foundation, Surprise Spring Foundation, George Meyer, Brett Stearns, Judith Behler Howells, and Deb Behler.
Congratulations, Jeff, Pat, Herilala, Elliott, and Terry, and thank you all for your major efforts on behalf of turtles and their conservation—your recognition as Behler and Pritchard Honorees is most highly deserved!