"Extinct" Soft-Shell Turtle Found in Vietnam (AP/Nat'g Geo; NPR)

[eppur_se_muova]

Associated Press
April 17, 2008

A rare giant turtle previously thought to be extinct in the wild has been discovered in northern Vietnam, according to researchers from the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo who made the find.

The only other known Swinhoe's soft-shell turtles are three animals that live in captivity, said experts from the zoo's Asian turtle program.

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

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.


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more: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/04/080417-AP-zoo-rare.html

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iEoA1gQu00ozcEpj3SuYeypDkKBAD903Q1387



Morning Edition, April 18, 2008 · For years, Vietnamese children were told of an ancient turtle that lived in a lake. When the turtle appears, it is said to be a portent of an extraordinary event. Now, researchers from the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo say they found a rare giant turtle in a lake west of Hanoi. The turtle was thought to be extinct in the wild.

Morning Edition, March 28, 2006 · A turtle weighing more than 400 pounds lives in a lake at the center of Vietnam's capital, Hanoi. The turtle, as legend has it, is several hundred years old and is the last of its kind.

Hanoi University biologist Ha Dinh Duc, whom locals call "professor turtle," says this is the last surviving giant turtle of Hanoi's Hoan Kiem lake.


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more: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89750339

[Clear Blue Sky]

1. How can you prove something is truly extinct?

Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence....

[Dead_Parrot]

3. It's a bit of a minefield

Especially since there's also different degrees of extinct (functionally extinct, extinct in the wild, pseudo-extinct, and plain old extinct). So, Barbary Lions are extinct in the wild, and probable functionally extinct, but not really extinct because there are still some alive in zoos (probably, anyway). Baiji Dolphins have been declared functionally extinct, but it's hard to see anything in that river so we probably won't be certain for years: On the other hand, the La Palma Giant Lizard was thought to have gone extinct in the middle ages until some were found last year...

[soothsayer]

2. "...on the menu"