The spotted turtle is an ancient creature and the prototype of our legendary gantu, a creature that has survived for hundreds of millions of years, but now faces a danger of extinction. The only 3 remaining turtles in the world, only 1 in our place, this is a rarer species than the giant panda, but now it is going extinct for some reasons, how to save success?
The origin and endangerment of the spotted turtle
The spotted turtle, also known as the Turtle, is an endangered species in the turtle species, mainly feeds on aquatic animals, one of the largest freshwater turtles in the world, with a back plate capable of 100 kilograms of back movement, with a maximum lifespan of more than 400 years.
According to some Neolithic sites, this creature is extremely old, arguably a 270 million-year-old living fossil, and ancient species that once underwent asteroids and ice ages are now endangered.
The turtle is flattened as a whole, with a slightly raised dorsal disc, olive green and black green, large and small yellow spots all over the body, and a medium-sized distinction on the head. In ancient times, there were still many spotted turtles, widely distributed in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, normally speaking, the spotted turtles are large, almost no natural enemies, coupled with a long life and can also lay more eggs, it should not be endangered and extinct.
It is true that there are only 3 in the world now, and the once spotted turtles were widely distributed and no one recognized them, so they could only be called leprosy shrews, and the main reason for their decrease in number was because no one knew them and no one paid attention to them. In 2008, there were two more spotted turtles on the mainland, one in Changsha and one in Suzhou, which lived for 80 years and 100 years respectively.
In order to save the endangered ones, the team of mainland experts decided to relocate, transport the female spotted turtles from Changsha, and live with the male spotted turtles in Suzhou, and naturally mate and reproduce. However, the team found that turtles lay eggs and can form very few embryos, which makes people happy, but in the incubation process, the chances of success are very small, and none of them can successfully hatch.
According to the analysis of the expert team, there are probably two reasons for the lack of success, one is that the female turtle is not enough nutrients, and the insufficient intake of calcium leads to a thin wall of the eggshell. In addition, the male spotted turtle is older, resulting in insufficient sperm motility of male spotted turtle, in order to ensure success, experts decided to take artificial insemination, before and after 4 times have failed.
The recording and reproduction of the spotted turtle
In 2019, the last time was carried out, the indicators were checked in advance, and the health status was found to be good, and the process was very smooth and there were no accidents. After the end of artificial insemination, the female turtle fell asleep, and finally after 24 hours of rescue by the team, the turtle lost its life.
Therefore, there are only 3 spotted turtles left in the world, and then the ovarian tissue of the female spotted turtle is collected, and liquid nitrogen is used for future use, and the professional team will also begin to investigate and analyze the accidental death of the turtle.
In fact, the first scientific record of the spotted turtle was in 1873, when British scholars captured several giant turtles, and since then they have been named Streak turtles, except for museum specimens, they have not been found in the wild for many years.
It was not until the 1990s, when a professor of biology at Suzhou University of Science and Technology analyzed the specimens of leprosy shrews, it was discovered that this was the spotted turtle. After years of research, it has been proved that the turtle is a special species, because it is mistaken for other kinds, resulting in it not being taken seriously, and finally creating the current tragedy.
No wild individuals have been found since 1972, and only four individuals have been confirmed to be alive until the death of the female turtle in October 2005, when the importance of the turtle was realized. On the website published a description of the spotted turtle, convenient for people to distinguish do not accidentally injure, the turtle generally lives in the river, most of which is in the Yangtze River Basin and other freshwater areas.
Mainly living in relatively static and slow waters, especially at the depth of the water and the confluence of rivers, the spotted turtle is rare in number and is an extremely valuable species. The recent news of the extinction of the Chinese sturgeon has made humans aware of the problem of the endangered extinction of organisms, and the endangered species of the spotted turtle is known as the giant panda in the water.
From the end of the 1990s to the increase in human activities, in people's subconscious turtle is very supplemental, used to boil soup to cook is very popular, long-term hunting and destruction of the environment, etc., so that the living space of the turtle is reduced, the number of turtles is also sharply reduced.
In addition to the spotted turtles here, there are also in the Red River Basin of Vietnam, but the two are uncertain, and there is hope if it is a male and female pairing. According to relevant news, in October 2020, Dong Mo Lake in Hanoi, Vietnam, successfully captured a spotted turtle, which was found to be a female after testing, and the racial reproduction of the sub-spotted turtle is promising.
The future and conservation of the spotted turtle
The female turtle that was found, 1 meter long and weighing 86 kilograms, was also very healthy, and in December last year, there was a larger one photographed in East Mo Lake, and the current one is unknown. These Vietnamese turtles were found, or the Gothenburg team did a water sample analysis, through the test results to determine the presence of one.
However, it was difficult to find, and it was fortunate to be able to photograph another one, so through the plot, it was finally captured, and it was confirmed to be a female spotted turtle. The turtle was then sampled and implanted with a chip to return it to East Mo Lake, and the Gothenburg team said that once the other sex was confirmed, they would be protected and if the pairing was successful, they would be put together to reproduce.
According to the expectations of the expert team, it is planned to expand the area of the lake, appropriately change some living environments, and put them together to protect them. Some people think it is feasible, and some people have initiated the soul question, why is the number of spotted turtles so small, is there no inbreeding?
In fact, the probability of the emergence of spotted turtles in the near future is very small, mainly unlike amphibians and reptile mammals, this problem occurs very rarely, coupled with their large number of breeds, there is no need to do this at all. And as long as the spotted turtle can successfully breed once, to some extent, even if it is saved, I hope that the two spotted turtles in Vietnam can grow the population, so that the spotted turtle will not be as extinct as the Chinese sturgeon.
We all know that the endangered extinction of organisms, a large part of the reason is caused by humans, the scope of activity and industrial development, the compression of the habitat space of other organisms, causing a lot of environmental damage, resulting in the endangerment of some species. In 2020, when the world suddenly broke out, there was a closed pattern everywhere, and the streets that were once noisy and bustling were now quietly depressed.
The world has also been breathed, the air quality has improved, the environment has begun to improve somewhat, and animals in many places have begun to have a number of breeding trends. The smog in many places has disappeared, which is beautiful for many people, and it is also hard-won, and the air and environment are visible to the naked eye.
In South Africa, many penguins appear every day, wave after wave to go to the beach to forage, go out early and return late, because the beach is full of people, each time it has to be delayed for a long time, and even finally an accident occurs, and some cubs are killed. However, at the time of the outbreak, these penguins had more room to live.
Suddenly found that there is no car and no one, so they can go back and forth many times a day, and some cubs can eat and survive, and more ethnic groups will be born. In short, the extinction and birth of living things are staged, all the time is nature's choice, more caused by human activities, which is the most painful, because this is also our human habitat.