The western swamp tortoise is one of Australia’s rarest reptiles, a Critically Endangered species found only in Western Australia. Just a small number of mature individuals remain in the wild, in isolated wetland reserves north of Perth, and the species is under mounting pressure from a drying climate that continues to erode its already fragmented habitat.
In a world first, researchers set out to field-test a bold conservation strategy: assisted colonisation. The project trials whether wetlands several hundred kilometres south of the tortoise’s natural range, in cooler and wetter country, could offer the species a viable home as the climate shifts. It is a complex and deliberately careful approach, underpinned by years of modelling and collaborative research between universities and management agencies.
Nicolas documented this work for the Threatened Species Recovery Hub, filming and photographing the tortoises and the researchers in the field, including the release of young tortoises at a southern translocation site.