Yangtze Giant Softshell Turtle
Saving the Yangtze Giant Softshell Turtle
Chelonian Threats: Only 3 specimens of Yangtze Giant Softshell Turtle are known to exist: a male at the Suzhou Zoo in China, and two specimens of unknown sex residing in separate lakes in northern Vietnam. Time and the ability to successfully reproduce these animals are the greatest pressure on the species’ survival.
Actions: Captive husbandry and maintenance, artificial insemination technology, visual surveys
Vietnam’s Biodiversity Conservation Agency (BCA) of the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment (MoNRE)
The Fisheries Department and Forest Protection Department (FPD)
Asian Turtle Program of Indo-Myanmar Conservation back the field surveys.
Cleveland Metroparks Zoo
Turtle Conservation Fund
Washington State University
International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund
British Chelonia Group
Private donors support the eDNA analysis.
New York's Wildlife Conservation Society, the Leibniz Institute for Zoo & Wildlife Research in Berlin, San Diego Zoo Global, the Suzhou Zoo, Changsha Zoo, WCS-China, Kunming Institute of Zoology, and the China Zoo Society were all actively involved in the artificial insemination efforts.