Breathless scientists watched this spring as the world's most endangered turtles successfully mated.A successful batch of baby Yangtze giant soft-shell turtles would be a welcome environmental win for China. Just four known members of the species are left, three of which are male. The only female was found in a Chinese zoo just last year after a long and desperate search. However, time is rapidly running out on this desperate attempt to save the species. The female specimen is 80 years old, and her mate is 100.
Depressing news broke Saturday that the attempt to breed the two turtles has failed because the eggs didn't hatch. The elderly pair will unfortunately have to wait until next year before another attempt can be made. Stephen C. Sautner, a communications official with the Wildlife Conservation Society, spoke about the worldwide disappointment.
Unfortunately, none of the eggs successfully hatched this time. A number of the eggs had very thin or cracked eggshells, suggesting that the diet of the animals prior to breeding was not optimal.
While more than half of the eggs seemed fertile, the embryos died early. The female turtle's age was not indicated as a factor in the failed breeding attempt. Instead, years of a low-calcium diet were thought to be the cause.Besides the pair that mated, the only other known Yangtze turtles are two males in Vietnam. Now, settled together in Suzhou, the two turtles are preparing for another attempt next year with a high-calcium diet. Though it isn't clear how long Yangtze turtles can live, the female's fertility is the key. The turtle alliance remains optimistic, despite the advanced ages of the turtles.
Do you have hope that this species will be able to withstand the striking odds against them? Should more be done to prevent this kind of extermination before bordering extinction? Let us know in the comments. And make sure to check out Lost Turtles Invade Restaurant.
[Yahoo! News]
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1 comments:
(rant) Well, first of all, China has an absolutely appalling record when it comes to endangered species, except maybe for pandas, which are a profit-making industry for them, and for environmental concerns in general. How about their ridiculous demand for tiger and bear parts, and shark fins, neither of which has any real medicinal value. Nevertheless, they are more than willing to forgo any thought for the welfare of many species merely for some sort of pseudo-medicinal placebo effect, and ever-decreasing profit margins. There are various aquatic mammals that they have very nearly polluted out of existence in their rivers and coastal areas. For as much grief as the US gets on the environment, let's not even get started on China. This poor turtle species is just another case in point. The environmentalists know that there is nothing that they can do about the situation over there. Demonstrate? They would be locked up in prison and "throw away the key." (/rant)
Back to the point here, my first question is, can't they figure out a way to artificially inseminate, or fertilize the eggs? I'm not a biologist, so I'll admit to being clueless about turtle eggs, or chicken eggs for that matter. Time to look into cloning too. Impregnate some similar turtle species with their eggs.
My second question; (actually, rant) Can't they find someone to scour the local live-food markets in the area, and everywhere else in the country while they're at it. We *are* possibly talking about the LAST pair of these turtles here. There is probably some poor turtle flopping around in a dirty, smelly, bloody bucket in a market somewhere, next to the deer antlers, bear gall-bladders, and dried shark fins. Check under the tiger penises too. (/rant)
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