Yangtze turtle on brink of extinction with death of last known female in China
- Just three of the species thought to remain alive after ninety-something Xiangxiang’s death on the weekend
- Reptile dies after fifth failed attempt at artificial insemination
One of the world’s rarest turtle species moved a step closer to extinction with the death of the last known female of the kind in eastern China on the weekend.
Xiangxiang, a nine-decade-old Yangtze giant softshell turtle, died at Suzhou Zoo in Jiangsu province on Saturday afternoon, a day after zoo officials made a fifth attempt to artificially inseminate the animal, Suzhou Daily reported.
The “catastrophic loss” leaves just one other of the turtles – a male over a century old – in China and two others of unknown sex in the wild in Vietnam, according to the report.
Xiangxiang was in good health before the artificial insemination attempt and the procedure was carried out without complications, the report said.
Four previous attempts to artificially inseminate Xiangxiang had also been failures.