Last known female Rafetus swinhoei turtle just passed away

[MudpupWaterdog]

Hi all, some really sad news here. The last known female Yangtze softshell turtle (Rafetus swinhoei) has just passed away in a lake just outside of Hanoi. We're all pretty broken up about it here in Vietnam - she was one of three known living individuals remaining.

I had the good fortune to see her a few months ago on a trip to Đông Mô lake with some staff from the Asia Turtle Program (ATP). The guys there are devastated. This turtle has a lot of cultural meaning to people in Vietnam and especially Hanoi, and this individual represented decades of work and hope to so many people.

The only two known remaining turtles are a known male in the Suzhou Zoo in China (believed to have damaged reproductive organs and therefore unable to mate), and a suspected male here in Vietnam in another lake. The ATP is still looking for more and hasn't given up hope of finding some further up the Red River. So far, expeditions there and in Laos have turned up bones and old fishing stories from former turtle hunters, but no specimens. This may be it for one of the world's largest and rarest freshwater turtles.

Some related news articles (two written by friends):
https://saigoneer.com/saigon-environment/26258-another-ho%C3%A0n-ki%E1%BA%BFm-turtle-dies-in-hanoi,-setting-back-conservation-efforts

https://time.com/6275373/giant-yangtze-softshell-turtle-female-dies/

https://e.vnexpress.net/news/environment/one-of-the-last-hoan-kiem-turtles-has-died-in-hanoi-4597435.html

If anyone comes to Hanoi, there are two specimens on display in the center of the city in the lakeside Ngọc Sơn temple. One was allegedly killed by a fisherman with a crowbar in 1967 and stuffed, and the other died in 2016 and was plastinated by a team of German specialists. They're huge and beautiful turtles.

[Saarlooswolfhound]

This is tragic news for sure. I learned about these amazing animals a few years ago, I will have to read those articles in full. One can remain hopeful though, if I have learned anything, it is that the river systems and marine ecosystems always contain surprises. Perhaps there is a big ol gal out there still.

[NSD Bashe]

My condolences

[BlueKrono]

For a time I lived with world-renowned turtle expert Peter Pritchard at the Chelonian Research Institute in Florida. Pritchard literally wrote the book on this species (appropriately named "Rafetus"), and had been given the skull of one of them. At one point he allowed me to hold it. Gave me chills. Extinction was probably inevitable for this extremely special species. Such a tragedy.