A zoo in southern China says the only known female member of one of the world’s rarest turtle species has died.

The animal was one of four Yangtze giant softshell turtles known to exist in the world.

The Suzhou zoo, where the female turtle lived, also hosts a male Yangtze giant softshell turtle, or Rafetus swinhoei. The other two live in Vietnam, but their genders are unknown.

Suzhou authorities said on Sunday that the female turtle died on Saturday afternoon.

The city government said in a statement that experts have already used technology to collect the turtle’s ovarian tissue for future research.

The state-run People’s Daily reported that the turtle was over 90 years old and had undergone a fifth attempt at artificial insemination shortly before she died. </s> The only known female member of one of the world's rarest turtle species has died at a zoo in southern China, officials said Sunday.

The animal was one of four Yangtze giant softshell turtles known to be remaining in the world. The Suzhou zoo, where the female turtle lived, also houses a male Yangtze giant softshell turtle. The other two live in Vietnam, but their genders are unknown.

The turtle died Saturday afternoon, the Suzhou city government said in a statement, citing the zoo. It said experts have already used technology to collect the turtle's ovarian tissue for future research.

The state-run People's Daily reported that the turtle was over 90 years old and had undergone a fifth attempt at artificial insemination shortly before she died.

A medical examination found the turtle to be in good health prior to the procedure, the People's Daily said, and the artificial insemination appeared to go smoothly. But the turtle died the following day.

Yangtze giant softshell turtles originated in China, making their homes in the Yangtze River and Taihu Lake, according to the People's Daily. The species is often referred to as the most endangered turtle in the world.

Suzhou authorities said Chinese and foreign experts are investigating the cause of the turtle's death. </s> By The Associated Press

BEIJING (AP) — A zoo in southern China says the only known female member of one of the world’s rarest turtle species has died. The animal was one of four Yangtze giant softshell turtles known…

BEIJING (AP) — A zoo in southern China says the only known female member of one of the world’s rarest turtle species has died.

The animal was one of four Yangtze giant softshell turtles known to be remaining in the world.

The Suzhou zoo, where the female turtle lived, also houses a male Yangtze giant softshell turtle. The other two live in Vietnam, but their genders are unknown.

Suzhou authorities said Sunday that the female turtle died Saturday afternoon.

The city government said in a statement that experts have already used technology to collect the turtle’s ovarian tissue for future research.

The state-run People’s Daily reported that the turtle was over 90 years old and had undergone a fifth attempt at artificial insemination shortly before she died.

Copyright © 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed. </s> The only known female member of one of the world’s rarest turtle species has died at a zoo in southern China, officials said on Sunday.

The animal was one of four Yangtze giant softshell turtles known to be remaining in the world. The Suzhou zoo, where the female turtle lived since 2008 when she was moved from the Changsha Ecological Zoo, also houses a male Yangtze giant softshell turtle.

She was moved to mate with the male turtle, who is reportedly over 100 years old, a zoo employee told China’s Global Times on condition of anonymity.

The other two turtles live in Vietnam, but their genders are unknown.

The turtle died on Saturday afternoon, the Suzhou city government said in a statement, citing the zoo. It said experts have already used technology to collect the turtle’s ovarian tissue for future research.

The state-run People’s Daily reported that the turtle was over 90 years old and had undergone a fifth attempt at artificial insemination shortly before she died.

A medical examination found the turtle to be in good health prior to the procedure, the People’s Daily said, and the artificial insemination appeared to go smoothly.

But the turtle died the following day.

The Rafetus swinhoei, more popularly known as Yangtze giant softshell turtles, originated in China, making their homes in the Yangtze River and Taihu Lake, according to the People’s Daily.

The species is often referred to as the most endangered turtle in the world.

Loss of habitat and poaching are among the reasons for the decline of the species’ population, according to a report by Mongabay, a conservation and environmental science news service.

Suzhou authorities said Chinese and foreign experts are investigating the cause of the turtle’s death. “The cause of death... will be announced later by the China Wildlife Conservation Association,” a Suzhou zoo employee told Global Times. </s> A zoo in southern China is reporting that the only known female member of one of the world’s rarest and most endangered turtle species died Saturday. It was more than 90 years old.

The female Yangtze giant softshell turtle (Rafetus swinhoei) died at the Suzhou Zoo in Suzhou, China a day after an attempt at artificial insemination, part of an effort to help save its species from extinction. The death means only three giant softshell turtles remain in the world.

The city government said in a statement that experts have already used technology to collect the turtle’s ovarian tissue for future research.

The Suzhou zoo is home to another Yangtze giant softshell turtle — a male. Two others live in Vietnam, but they are both thought to be males.

According to state-run newspaper People’s Daily, the turtle had been inseminated five times since 2008. Although the last insemination was said to have gone smoothly and the turtle appeared to be in fine health after the procedure, her condition deteriorated the following day.

In 2015, scientists from the Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA), San Diego Zoo Global, and Wildlife Conservation Society’s (WCS) Bronx Zoo, assisted in an attempt for artificial insemination, in what was then called a “last chance” to breed the rare turtle.

The female turtle was transferred to Suzhou Zoo from Changsha Ecological Zoo in 2008 to be paired with the male, believed to be more than 100 years old, as part of a captive breeding program designed to recover the species. Although the two turtles have displayed courting behavior, eggs laid by the female were infertile.

Listed at the top of the IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species, as critically endangered, the Yangtze giant softshell turtle is the most critically endangered turtle in the world. Much of its demise has been attributed to over-harvesting and habitat degradation.
• More Than 40 Animals Rescued From Notorious ‘Zoo of Sorrows’ in Gaza </s> Yangtze turtle on brink of extinction with death of last known female in China </s> With a plume or fluorescent green hair, you might mistake this turtle as a puppet from The Muppets.

But the turtle is very much real, and worryingly, it has just been added to the Zoological Society of London’s Endangered List.

The creature is a Mary River turtle - a bizarre species that can stay underwater for up to three days by breathing through its genitals.

Mary River turtles can be found in south-east Queensland, Australia, and became popular pets in the 1960s and 1970s.

Unfortunately, this led to the species’ demise, and very few now remain in the wild.

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The Mary River turtle joins a host of other reptiles on the Endangered List, including the world’s largest sea turtle, the leatherback and the gharial, a freshwater crocodile once common across much of Asia but now confined to a handful of rivers in northern India and Nepal.

Rikki Gumbs, who co-ordinates the list, said: “Reptiles often receive the short end of the stick in conservation terms, compared with the likes of birds and mammals.

“However, the edge Reptile List highlights just how unique, vulnerable and amazing these creatures really are.

“From the world’s largest sea turtles to a blind species of snake found only in Madagascar, the diversity of edge Reptiles is breath-taking.” </s> Mary River turtles, also known as the 'penny turtle', are a freshwater turtle that's indigenous to the Mary River, which is in southeast Queensland, Australia.

It was first identified by scientists in 1994 but has quickly become one of the world's most endangered species.

This, despite the fact that it was a popular pet in the 1960s and 1970s.

The short-necked turtle is quite large, with some adult specimens growing to be more than 50cm.

One of the Mary River turtle's most outstanding features is its Mohican-like hairdo that's actually just green algae.

It also has long fleshy barbels, or feelers, under its chin.

But perhaps one of its most distinctive features is that it breathes through its genitals.

The Mary River turtle is able to breathe through its bum thanks to gill-like organs in its cloaca.

The cloaca is used for both excretion and mating.

This enables the Mary River turtle to breathe under water for up to three days at a time.

Little else is known about the species' ecology and behavior, aside from its appetite.

The Mary River turtle is omnivorous, feasting on plant matter like algae, mollusks and other small creatures. </s> Boasting a green, punk hairdo and the unusual ability to breathe through its backside, an Australian turtle has become famous overnight — but not only for its eccentricity.

Unfortunately, just as many of us are discovering the Mary River Turtle’s tantalizing traits, it has become the latest creature to join the “EDGE of Existence” list of endangered species compiled by the Zoological Society of London.

A native of Queensland, Australia, the turtle was one of 100 reptiles added to the catalog this week.

It lives only in the Mary River from which it took its name.

The inventory has no shortage of weird and wonderful creatures — a limbless lizard, the world’s largest sea turtle, a blind snake, and a chameleon named after Tarzan.

But the Mary River Turtle might just be the strangest of them all.

“The turtle is highly distinctive,” states a ZSL description of the species known to scientists as Elusor macrurus.

It can breathe underwater through specialized glands in butt organs known as cloaca — orifices through which the turtle excretes urine and waste, and lays eggs.

“This turtle is able to spend so much time underwater — up to three days — without coming up for air due to its strange ability to breathe through its bum,” Rikki Gumbs of Imperial College London said.
The last known female Yangtze giant softshell turtle, the world's largest species of freshwater turtle and one of the most endangered species on the planet, dies at Suzhou Zoo in China.