Rarest Turtle in the world found in the wild in Vietnam...


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A photograph of the Swinhoe's Softshell Turtle (Rafetus swinhoei) that was rescued following a dam break in Dong Mo Lake, Hanoi, Vietnam in 2008. Photo by: Timothy McCormack- ATP 
Breaking News - Rarest Turtle in the world found in the wild in Vietnam.
We are so excited to break this news today. Environmental DNA has helped us confirm anew Swinhoe's Softshell Turtles (Rafetus swinhoei), better known in Vietnam as the Hoan Kiem Turtle, in the wild. Years of surveys have paid off, the global known population for this species is now four individuals.
Xuan Khanh Lake has been on our radar since 2012 and in 2016 we got fresh information from this lake. The ATP/IMC Field Team have spent almost 3,000 hours making observation on the lake through 2017 and were able to observe the turtle on a number of occasions. One photograph in May 2017 is clearly a large softshell turtle but the identify can still not be confirmed. But we have also been working on a collaborative Environmental DNA (eDNA) project with the Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA) and Dr Caren Goldberg from Washington State University in the USA. Amazingly eDNA looks for the tiniest fragments of DNA in water samples taken from aquatic habitats. Using this we have been able to get a positive indication that the new animal is a Swinhoe's Softshell Turtle.
We now hope to work with the authorities to bring the animals in Vietnam together, once we can confirm their sex of course. We still have over half a dozen other sites with promising information and we hope eDNA can still help with more of these locations.
For more information see the story on our website:https://goo.gl/npGBdB
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Well done to a dedicated Rafetus Field Team who spent so long in the field (Nguyen Tai Thang, Nguyen Van Trong - ATP/IMC and Pham Van Thong -formally of the ATP/IMC) and all staff and partners past and present.
Thank you to Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, Ohio, USA, the IUCN and Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF), British Chelonia Group (BCG) and the Turtle Conservation Fund (TCF) who have supported this work.

sources: FB Asian Turtle Programme

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