TSA China

Project Animal(s) : Turtles
Project Category : Reptiles
Project Region : Asia
Project Type : Conservation
Project URL : https://turtlesurvival.org/copy/projects/china/
Project is timebound? : No

Focal species:

Yangtze Giant Softshell Turtle (Rafetus swinhoei)

Chelonian Threats:

Only 4 specimens of Yangtze Giant Softshell Turtle are known to exist: a male and female captive pair at the Suzhou Zoo in China, and two specimens of unknown sex residing in separate lakes in northern Vietnam. Time and the ability to successfully reproduce these animals are the greatest pressure on the species’ survival.

Action:

Captive husbandry and maintenance, artificial insemination technology, visual surveys

Partners and Collaborators:

Vietnam’s Biodiversity Conservation Agency (BCA) of the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment (MoNRE), the Fisheries Department and Forest Protection Department (FPD), and Asian Turtle Program of Indo-Myanmar Conservation back the field surveys. Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, Turtle Conservation Fund, Washington State University, International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, British Chelonia Group, and private donors support the eDNA analysis. New York’s Wildlife Conservation Society, the Leibniz Institute for Zoo & Wildlife Research in Berlin, San Diego Zoo Global, the Suzhou Zoo, Changsha Zoo, WCS-China, Kunming Institute of Zoology, and the China Zoo Society are actively involved in the artificial insemination efforts.

Project Agency : Turtle Survival Alliance

Project Agency Contact : https://turtlesurvival.org/