The Last of Her Kind

These extinction stories are very sad, and there will be more of them in the future. The last female Yangtze soft-shell turtle (Rafetus swinhoei) was found dead in April in Dong Mo Lake, northern Vietnam.  Only two males are known to survive, one in a nearby lake and another in Suzhu zoo.  Conservation efforts by Asian Turtle Program, an NGO, have been underway for several years without success.  Now only finding another wild female will allow hope for this species. Females can lay clutches of up to thirty eggs.

an 1873 illustration

The Yangtze turtle was once found in China's Red River basin, lower Yangtze River and norther Vietnam. The usual threats reduced it to just a few individuals hanging on in isolated waterbodies.  Its possible that a few more remain hidden from humans in Vietnam and Laos. In Vietnamese mythology, it represents the god Kim Qui, who helped the Vietnamese overthrow a millennium of Chinese rule. According to legend Emperor Le Loi returned a magic sword to the god in Lake Hoam Kiem in Hanoi after using it to expel the Chinese.  A Yangtze turtle survived in the lake until 2016; today there are no gods in Lake Hoam Kiem.

The nearest living relative is the Euphrates soft-shell turtle (Rafetus euphraticus), which is also endangered.  A problem is the lack of funding for searching for potential mates.  Compared to the amounts spent on elephant and tiger conservation, very little money is expended on turtle recovery.  There is little time left to rescue critically endangered species like the Yangtze turtle.  Scientists estimate that the extinction rate for all species now is perhaps a 1,000 times higher than previously occurred on Earth.