Say goodbye to giant softshell turtle

ON SATURDAY, the last known female Yangtze giant softshell turtle, the largest species of freshwater turtle, died in Suzhou Zoo. China Daily writer Zhang Zhouxiang comments:

You might never have heard of the species, but the fact is that the death of the Yangtze giant softshell turtle in Suzhou means the species might highly possibly face extinction. There is a male in Suzhou Zoo, and two other turtles are known to be living in the wild in Vietnam. Unless one of the two turtles in Vietnam is female, the species will die out. Yangtze giant softshell turtles are known to have lived 270 million years ago, even earlier than dinosaurs reigned. They survived one disaster after another, except their encounter with humans.

Being over 1 meter in length and more than 100 kilos in weight, Yangtze giant softshell turtles have hardly any natural predator - except for humans.