Yangtze Giant Soft Shell Turtle Goes Extinct

• The recent death of the last known surviving female Yangtze giant soft shell turtle (Rafetus swinhoei) means that the species is now walking into the sunset.

Key Facts

• With the passing of the female, only three known individuals of this species remain in the world. One is the 100-year-old male in Suzhou. There is another male in Vietnam’s Dong Mo Lake, and a turtle in Xuan Khanh Lake on the outskirts of Hanoi, whose gender is unknown.
• The Yangtze giant soft shell turtle is known to have inhabited the Yangtze river in China and the Red river that flows from southern ....