Yangtze giant softshell turtle

Appearance

The Yangtze giant softshell turtle is recognized for its deep head, pig-like snout, and dorsally positioned eyes. Although comparisons are limited due to the small number of known specimens, its average and maximum sizes surpass those of other large freshwater turtles, such as the alligator snapping turtle and related giant softshell species, among them other Rafetus and Pelochelys species. The turtle’s carapace (shell) typically measures over 50 cm (20 in), with the largest recorded at 86 cm (34 in) in straight length.

Adult specimens exceed 100 cm (39 in) in length and 70 cm (28 in) in width, with weights ranging from 70–100 kg (150–220 lb). A study of large turtles from the Yangtze River reported an average weight of 25 kg (55 lb), although not all specimens were definitively identified as Rafetus.

The Yangtze giant softshell turtle was first described in 1873 by John Edward Gray, a turtle expert at the British Museum, who named it Oscaria swinhoei after English biologist Robert Swinhoe, who had sent a specimen from Shanghai.

Range and habitat

The Yangtze giant softshell turtle historically inhabited the Yangtze River and Lake Tai, located on the border of Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces in eastern China, as well as areas near the Red River in southern China and northern Vietnam, among them Gejiu, Yuanyang, Jianshui, and Honghe in Yunnan Province. The Red River population was well documented from the 1960s to the 1990s, declining sharply after this date. In Vietnam, the species has been observed in Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi on several occasions, among them documented sightings in 1999, 2000, and 2005.

Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.

Diet and breeding

The Yangtze giant softshell turtle primarily feeds on a diet of fish, crabs, snails, frogs, and aquatic vegetation such as water hyacinths and "green rice leaves." Despite its large size and distinctive appearance, the Yangtze giant softshell turtle is highly elusive. In an attempt to prevent extinction, a fertile female from the Changsha Zoo was transferred to the Suzhou Zoo in 2008 to breed with the only known male in captivity, a 100-year-old individual.

Despite this effort, breeding attempts have largely failed. By 2013, six breeding seasons had produced 80 eggs, none of that were viable.

In crisis

Native to eastern and southern China and northern Vietnam, the species has a known population of only two individuals, and the absence of fertile females has rendered it functionally extinct. The Yangtze giant softshell turtle faces numerous threats that have contributed to its critically endangered status. Illegal wildlife trade and a lack of robust legislation to regulate hunting and trafficking have further compounded the species' decline.

Data suggests that the population collapse of these turtles in Vietnam occurred in two phases: first in the 1980s when the population size declined dramatically, and the second at the beginning of the 1990s, when hunters were collecting multiple individuals from populations that were already severely impacted. "Climate Change and the New Age of Extinction".

CITES lists this taxon on Appendix II. Confirm the current appendix on the CITES checklist.

Yangtze giant softshell turtle is Critically Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.

Sources

Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Yangtze giant softshell turtle, Wikidata item Q1075096. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.