Fuddland

The public zoo here in Suzhou really needs to work on its publicity. I’ve lived here for over three years and it wasn’t until about two weeks before I was due to leave that I learned that the zoo houses two of only four known remaining Yangtze Giant Soft-Shelled Turtles—possibly the largest species of turtle in the world.

Even more worrying, of the four that are left, three are male. The sole remaining female lives, along with one male, here in Suzhou. The other two males are in Vietnam. A conservation breeding programme is in effect, which I learned about through a public talk given at The Bookworm, but you really wouldn’t know it just from visiting the zoo.

The water in the turtle pond is part of Suzhou’s network of polluted canals; the pond is open-air and there are no staff on hand to stop idiotic members of the public throwing cakes, biscuits, bread, soft-drinks, as well as spit and litter into the pond; there is construction going on all around, which is apparently going to lead to a much-improved living environment for the turtles, but the stress of all the noise and chaos isn’t really going to help these last two hopes for the species to produce any offspring.

Almost as soon as they were introduced, despite not having seen an opposite member of their sex for a very long time, their instincts took over and the female deposited some eggs in the pitiful sand pit at the top end of their enclosure. Half were collected by the conservation staff and placed into three different incubators [three different temperatures], and half were left in the sand to develop naturally. But none survived.

The female is around 80 years old and the male could be 100, or perhaps older, and if their life-expectancies are similar to other species of turtle then they may only be in middle-age. Turtles have been known to reproduce virtually up until they die of old age, so there may still be a chance that future batches will be more successful, but so little is known about this particular species that they’re not even sure if they are giving them the right diet—although it’s a safe bet that biscuits and spit are not exactly part of a natural diet.

For political reasons, there doesn’t seem to be much chance of the other two males being given a shot at becoming fathers anytime soon—at least, not through natural means. At the talk, the possibility of using artificial insemination was discussed and is an option they are considering. It’s worth mentioning that just a couple of years ago, there were six of these turtles left, but two died while the conservation programme was in the process of being set up. If the female passes away just as suddenly, that’s it: another extinction, right under our noses. Perhaps being well aware of her critical importance, the smaller female stayed well away from the public end of the pond, but the big male swam over and gave us a chance to see this incredibly rare creature from just a few feet away.

#1

Jonathan | 2009 / 08 / 10 – 17:09

Wouldn’t the fact that there is only one female increase the risk of in-breeding?

Perhaps if they were black and white and looked a bit more cuddly then more attention would be paid.

#2

David | 2009 / 08 / 11 – 08:00

Re #1: Right, technically that all future off-spring would be directly related, but I missed the science lesson where we covered turtle genetics so I don’t know serious a problem that would be. It wasn’t mentioned at the talk. Maybe they don’t want to think about it in case the female finds out and gets all freaked out about having great-grandchildren with six flippers, dungarees and a straw hat.

#3

John | 2010 / 01 / 12 – 04:04

I first learned about this turtle in 2008 when the first breeding occurred and was unsuccessful. Is there any news of what happened in 2009? Did they get the females diet right and hatch any eggs? Were there any eggs laid in 2009?

#4

David | 2010 / 01 / 12 – 08:26

Re #3: No successful hatchings in 2009, as far as I’m aware. The turtles are now in the their hibernation period. Fingers crossed for 2010.

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