'Extinct' giant turtle found

[Deleted]

www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23553582-23109,00.html

BIOLOGISTS have identified a soft-shell giant turtle of cultural significance in northern Vietnam that was believed to be extinct in the wild, a US zoo said in a statement.
Cleveland Metroparks Zoo said its Asian turtle experts found the turtle (Rafetus swinhoei), the only known living such specimen, in a lake west of the capital, Hanoi, after three years of searching.

[youcantry]

here's hoping...

[Sean]

Despite the apparent cultural significance of this turtle, I still don't like its chances, cos an animal of this size would be worth several weeks' wages due to the market for freshwater turtles that exists in China. The desire for money is rapidly replacing cultural icons, even in those countries where traditional beliefs once predominated.
The demand for several species of freshwater turtle and land tortoises are fast becoming an icon that is eaten to demonstrate one's wealth in China. The demand for these chelonians is increasing astronomically as a result of the country's rapid economic development, and this has created one of the saddest and most overlooked examples of an unsustainably harvested, and over-exploited natural resource that exists in the world at the moment, yet it receives very little publicity. These turtles need the cute eyes of seal pups or the bulk of a leviathan before any one would take notice.
Also requiring the world's attention in this region are the crocodile farms of Cambodia. The crocs here are fed several species of freshwater snake, and these are caught literally by the millions from the massive wet lands associated with the waters of Tonle Sap. While the Cambodians are desperate for money (and understandably so), the health of their ecosystems are being compromised by the demand for croc products for the wealthy in the west.
Honestly, when will people start having some REAL environmental regard as they increase their demand for unnecessary products simply because they possess a disproportional amount of disposable income? As we all become so socially aware of the impacts of global warming, maybe we should also extend our understanding of the range of environmental catastrophes that exist in other significant areas. Every media-driven news report on TV should include an environmental awareness segment, particularly to balance the televising of share market reports that have now been squeezed into the half-hour bulletins that increase our temptations for money that we often have little regard for how it is spent.
Ruby, that story about the turtle should be used as a spring-board to highlight the absolute crisis that is occurring to many of the reptile populations of SE Asia. When referring to the term 'cold blood' in Attenborough's new program 'Life in Cold Blood', it should in reality actually implicate the attitudes of people fuelling these crises, and not to these animal's inability to generate their own metabolic heat.
I've had more than my two bob's worth here. But I do wonder what is suggested when one of the criteria used to classify humans taxonomically is the possession of a large brain, which suggests an apparent high level of ""intelligence"".
Here is a question I now pose to everyone: in what way do humans successfully demonstrate the correct meaning of intelligence (and please don't anybody answer that too simplistically by stating it represents our ability to design can openers and integrated circuits)? We can all see where we are currently heading environmentally, but what are we seriously doing about it?
I can see it now...in the not so distant future, human kind will all be crying desperately over the way we have spilt the milk in so many different areas, and complaining 'why didn't someone do something about it when they could'? Lets all use our intelligence NOW to prevent catastrophes, and not our selfishness and arrogance to cause them.
Thanx for your time.
Sean

[youcantry]

Hi Sean,

I hear your passion. Ultimately, how do you think it's going to end? And if - as I suspect - you stick with the spilt milk picture, then realistically, how are we going to change things?

[Deleted]

Hey Sean - missed you the other day at home! Hope you're well.

I'm pretty pessimistic about this poor old turtle too. I don't think, at a grass roots level, people would be differentiating between it and any other chelonian unlucky enough to be discovered by a group of fishermen. I'd wager most Vietnamese natives would be viewing it as a food source first and foremost.

I guess it all boils down to educating the masses - easy to do in western countries but much harder elsewhere, especially in places where food and money are hard to come by and economics is the driving force for survival. There are a lot of nasty things going on - captive sun bears having their bile ducts drained for traditional Chinese medicine, poaching of tigers, gorillas and other animals for 'cultural' practices and so-called medicinal uses. It's really quite depressing when you start tallying the numbers (and the species).

I know here in Australia there have been moves to protect certain species from over-hunting by indigenous people (ie. the dugong) but I wonder how effective these moves have been? Ultimately you're dealing with a centuries-old cultural practice and - I imagine - it would be difficult to get people who have lived in one small area all of their lives to reverse or change that, especially if they were unable to grasp the magnitude of the crisis facing certain species on a country or global scale.

On that note, as a species we've been guilty of a similar ignorance - only now are we beginning to join the dots and realise how interconnected everything is, and how (consequently) we've really stuffed up in quite a few key areas, and how we will soon be paying for that shortsightedness.

I don't know what's on the school curriculum these days, but I'd like to think the education system is responding to what's happening around us with a strong focus on ecology and the environment...

Ruby