Original Article - including picture

Researchers find rare giant turtle in Vietnam

CLEVELAND - Researchers from the Cleveland
Metroparks Zoo have discovered a rare giant turtle in northern Vietnam
— a find that carries great scientific and cultural significance.
Swinhoe's soft-shell turtle was previously thought to be extinct in the
wild. Three other turtles of the species are in captivity, said experts
from the Zoo's Asian turtle program.

The discovery represents hope for the species, said Doug Hendrie, the Vietnam-based coordinator of the zoo program.

Turtle
expert Peter Pritchard, president of the Chelonian Research Institute,
confirmed the find based on a photo Hendrie showed him.

"It looked like pretty solid evidence. The animal has a pretty distinctive head," Pritchard said.

There
have been rumors for years of a mythical creature living deep in the
waters of a northern Vietnam lake. Some in a village west of Hanoi
claimed to be blessed by catching a glimpse of its concave shell as it
crested above the surface of their lake.

A
national legend tells of a giant golden turtle that bestowed upon the
Vietnamese people a magic sword and victory over Chinese invaders in
the 16th century. Whether that sacred turtle has materialized in the
21st century will be a matter of cultural debate among the Vietnamese.

"This
is one of those mythical species that people always talked about but no
one ever saw," said Geoff Hall, zoo general curator.

Of the other three Swinhoe's soft-shell
turtles in captivity, two are in Chinese zoos and the other is cared
for in the Hoan Kiem ("Returned Sword") Lake in downtown Hanoi — the
lake in which the legendary turtle appeared to reclaim the sword from
the emperor.

Pritchard
said an amateur photographed a Swinhoe's soft-shell turtle in southern
China about six months ago that he believes was legitimate.

"It's on the very brink of extinction, so every one counts," Pritchard said.

The
Cleveland Metroparks Zoo began its effort to preserve and protect Asian
turtles in 2003 amid reports of increased killings for food or to make
traditional medicine from their bones. Development and pollution also
led to loss of nesting habitats along rivers, zoo officials said.

The
zoo has put more than $275,000 into Asian turtle conservation efforts
since 2000 and has supported Hendrie since 2003, officials said.

His team and scientists from Education for
Nature-Vietnam had searched lakes and wetlands along the Red River for
three years before hearing about the creature living outside Hanoi.

The turtle remains in the lake and researchers have notified the Vietnamese government of its existence, Hendrie said.