the World’s most rare turtle is close to extinction, after a hunskildpadde, which presumably was over 90 years old, is dead in China.
After the turtle’s death in a zoo, there are only three known members of the species back.
the Yangtze giant blødskjoldskildpadden died in Suzhou Zoo on Saturday, writes the newspaper Suzhou.
Hunskildpaddens death came a day after the dyrepassere in the zoo made one last attempt to inseminate it with the artificially with semen from a hanskildpadde from the same zoo.
– It is believed that the male is over 100 years, writes the newspaper.
The zoo had, for several years, having successfully tried to pair the two turtles and ensure the survival of the species naturally.
There are now launched a thorough investigation to determine the cause of death.
in addition to hanskildpadden in the Suzhou Zoo, there are now only two known members of the species back. They live in the wild in Vietnam. It is not known which gender they have.
the Yangtze giant blødskjoldskildpadden is the largest ferskvandsskildpadde in the world. It can be up to a meter long and reach a weight of 100 kilograms.
the Turtle’s natural habitat was the river Yangtze and other rivers in the country.
But the turtles ‘ living conditions in the chinese rivers have been increasingly deteriorated after centuries of hunting, greatly increased pollution, increased maritime traffic and ecological disruption due to hydroelectric dams.
/ritzau/AFP
