Many of us have come to appreciate the world around us in ways that we never even thought possible. We are sad whenever anything bad happens to the environment and we cheer whenever something good takes place. Recently, conservationists and people around the world had an opportunity to cheer in a way that they never thought possible. After all, it was thought that a certain type of turtle that had a permanent smile on their face was extinct. The good news came when the turtles were discovered again but even better news took place when they made a huge come back!
Although you may not know the giant Asian River turtle by name, the Burmese roofed turtle, you likely recognize them by what you see. About two decades ago, the species of turtle was thought to be extinct. Fortunately, they were able to find a number of those turtles alive and since that time, almost 1000 of the turtles have been bred in captivity. They are even successfully releasing the turtles into the wild. According to a herpetologist at the Wildlife Conservation Society, Steven G. Platt, “We came so close to losing them. If we didn’t intervene when we did, this turtle would have just been gone.”
Indiscriminate trapping techniques and fishing were killing the turtles in the mid-20th centuries. Overharvesting the eggs was another huge problem that helped to push the turtles to the brink of extinction. Unfortunately, they couldn’t track the turtles to know the true population because foreigners could not enter the country of Myanmar.
These turtles are interesting on so many different levels. Perhaps the thing that they are best known for is the permanent smile that they have on their face. Turtles are cute, although opinions do vary but when people see these turtles, they can’t help but smile back. There are some other interesting things about the turtles, such as females growing larger than males and males changing colors during mating season.
When the country opened in 2001, it was discovered that the turtles were still alive. Some of them are even showing up on the black market, but these days scientists and conservationists are working together in order to help the turtles survive. See more about them in the following video:
