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
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.
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