Giant turtle breeding effort failed

Published: Oct. 7, 2008 at 9:31 PM

BEIJING, Oct. 7 (UPI) -- An attempt to mate two elderly Yangtze giant soft-shell turtle failed to produce any offspring, Chinese scientists say.

The turtles are one of the world's most endangered species of freshwater turtles, The New York Times reported Wednesday. The only female known to exist is an 80-year-old turtle who has lived in a zoo in southern China for half a century. Last May, scientists loaded her up in a van and drove her 600 miles to a zoo in the city of Suzhou, where a 100-year-old male turtle awaited, the newspaper said.

While the mating resulted in the production of about 100 eggs, only about half were fertilized and those embryos died in development. The Turtle Survival Alliance said many of eggs had very thin or cracked eggshells, which suggests the turtles were not being being fed properly.

Xie Yan, the China program director for Wildlife Conservation Society, said the diet of the female turtle has been changed and scientists will try to mate the two turtles again next year.

© 2008 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Order reprints



Additional News Stories
CDC estimates 22M had H1N1, 3,900 died (12 min)
New Orleans Hornets fire Coach Byron Scott (36 min)
Chicago students arrested after food fight (50 min)
Intel to pay AMD $1.25B settlement
UPI NewsTrack Business
Crude oil prices slide hard Thursday
Unemployed grandmother hits street for job
fark
...and when they covered the Jews' cars in sticky-notes I said nothing, because I was not a Jew
Photoshop this barrier balancer
You can make your very own Tamiflu at home. I'm sure this will end well
Ohio couple married 61 years and died one day apart. There is no escape. Did you hear me? NO ESCAPE...
Elmo vs Spiderman vs Chewbacca: LA's superhero turf wars heat up again
John King to replace Lou Dobbs, says CNN. Dobbs' wife reportedly pleased