Swinhoe's softshell turtle. Source: turtlesurvival.org.
The Swinhoe’s softshell turtle, also known as the Yangtze giant softshell turtle, is a magnificent, river and lake-dwelling reptile that can grow up to an astonishing six feet long and 370 pounds. It primarily feeds on fish, vegetation, and aquatic invertebrates, and can lay between 20 and 80 eggs, though only a few offspring survive to adulthood. Once found all across China’s Yangtze River and South East Asia, the Yangtze giant softshell turtle is one of the rarest in the world. As of 2019, only two of these peculiar-looking turtles are confirmed extant, one in captivity in China and the other in the wild in Vietnam. How did the population of these turtles drop to the point of near-extinction? Unfortunately, they suffered from the same threat as most animals—humans.
The population of the Swinhoe’s turtle first began to decrease because of independent poachers who hunted them for their meat and skin products and captured them as pets. The turtles that managed to remain in the wild faced a significant amount of habitat loss, further decreasing their populations. Additionally, human-caused pollution heavily disturbed these turtles’ ecosystems. Premature deaths due to pollution contributed to the decline of the species until there were only three confirmed individuals left.
In 2019, the staff of the Chinese zoo that housed the last known female Swinhoe’s turtle at the time attempted to bring this species back from the brink of extinction. They believed they could jumpstart the population through artificial insemination, but tragically, the turtle died after the procedure. It seemed as if all hope had been lost for this beautiful animal. After the death of this female, there were only two confirmed softshell turtles left in the world: a male turtle in this same Chinese zoo and an unidentified individual living in a lake in Vietnam. In addition, there are two other possible Swinhoe’s turtles that have been reported in Vietnam.
After the zoologists ran a series of tests, an ultrasound scan verified that the confirmed Vietnamese Swinhoe’s turtle was female. Hoping for another chance to revitalize the softshell turtle population, scientists are looking into breeding this turtle with the male in China. This option is especially important because, if the unconfirmed reports in Vietnam turn out to be false, this would be the species’ last hope for survival.
Despite the high stakes, this potential breeding pair offers a glimmer of hope for this unique species. Hopefully, with time, the rarest turtle in the world may no longer be so rare.
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