As of: February 26, 2024, 5:11 a.m
By: Martina Lippl
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The Cantor's giant softshell turtle is considered a mysterious creature.
The animal is threatened with extinction.
Only tips from villagers brought success.
Kerala – It’s a sensational find!
Researchers tracked down one of the rarest turtles in the world for the first time in India - a Cantor's giant softshell turtle.
Villagers led to the discovery on the Chandragiri River in Kerala (India), scientists report in the specialist magazine
Oryx
.
“Ghost of the past” – Researchers discover extremely rare turtle in India
Asian giant tortoises (Pelochelys cantorii) can grow up to one meter long.
They bury themselves in the sand to wait for crabs and fish.
The animals are native to rivers in South and Southeast Asia.
But actually seeing a giant tortoise is now rare.
The freshwater turtle is threatened with extinction and is on the Red List of Threatened Species of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
So there was great sadness when a Yangtze giant softshell turtle died in Vietnam in 2023.
Extremely rare giant tortoise discovered in India: The Cantor's giant softshell turtle (Pelochelys cantorii) is threatened with extinction.
© Ayushi Jain/dpa/Oryx
According to the research team led by Veerappan Deepak from the Animal Science Museum of the Senckenberg Society for Natural Research in Dresden and Francoise Cavada-Blanco from the University of Portsmouth (Great Britain), giant softshell turtles have almost disappeared due to the destruction of their habitat.
Extremely rare giant tortoise spotted in India for the first time
For the first time, a nesting female has been discovered on the Chandragiri River in southern India and eggs have been rescued from flooded nests.
The hatched young were later released into the river.
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Previously, sightings in India would have been so rare "that their presence seemed like a ghost from the past," said Francoise Cavada-Blanco from the University of Portsmouth (UK) and co-author, according to a statement about the research project.
Through conversations with villagers, the team was able to systematically document the sighting of the turtle and include it in conservation efforts.
Traditional knowledge and scientific research can provide a path to the conservation of Cantor's tortoises, said Dr.
Cabada Blanco.
A research team encountered a strange animal again after 60 years.
(ml/dpa)