Student Shashwat Sirsi recently completed softshell turtle surveys in the southern Indian states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh , focusing on the endemic, poorly known and highly endangered Leith’s softshell,¬†Nilssonia leithi.¬† The surveys were funded by a seed grant from the TSA and completed with the support of TSA India and our partner, the Madras Crocodile Bank Trust. Read the Final Report¬†here¬†. These surveys represent preliminary work and¬†Shashwat has been given a six-month contract to complete additional surveys for¬†N . leithii¬†and¬†Pelochelys cantorii¬†in south India in 2011 as a full-time Project Officer with the TSA-MCBT India Program.
