China's Turtles, Emblems of a Crisis

By Jim Yardley | The New York Times
December 05, 2007

Unnoticed and unappreciated for five decades, a large female turtle with a stained, leathery shell is now a precious commodity in this city's decaying zoo. She is fed a special diet of raw meat. Her small pool has been encased with bulletproof glass. A surveillance camera monitors her movements. A guard is posted at night.

The agenda is simple: The turtle must not die.

Earlier this year, scientists concluded that she was the planet's last known female Yangtze giant soft-shell turtle. She is about 80 years old and weighs almost 90 pounds.

As it happens, the planet also has only one undisputed, known male. He lives at a zoo in the city of Suzhou. He is 100 years old and weighs about 200 pounds. They are the last hope of saving a species believed to be the largest freshwater turtles in the world.

"It's a very dire situation," said Peter Pritchard, a prominent turtle expert in the United States who has helped in trying to save the species. "This one is so big and it has such an aura of mystery."

For many Chinese, turtles symbolize health and longevity, but the saga of the last two Yangtze giant soft-shells is more symbolic of the threatened state of wildlife and biodiversity in China. Pollution, hunting and rampant development are destroying natural habitats, and also endangering plant and animal populations.

China contains some of the world's richest troves of biodiversity, yet the latest major survey of plants and animals reveals a bleak picture that has grown bleaker during the past decade. Nearly 40 percent of all mammal species in China are now endangered, scientists say. For plants, the situation is worse; 70 percent of all nonflowering plant species and 86 percent of flowering species are considered threatened.

An overriding problem is the fierce competition for land and water. China's goal of quadrupling its economy by 2020 means that industry, growing cities and farmers are jostling for a limited supply of usable land.

Cities or factories often claim farmland for expansion; farmers, in turn, reclaim marginal land that could be habitat. Already, China has lost half of its wetlands, according to one survey.

For the Chinese scientists and conservationists trying to reverse these trends, the challenge begins with trying to convince the government that protecting wildlife is an important priority. For centuries, Chinese leaders emphasized dominance over nature rather than coexistence with it. Animals and plants are still often regarded as commodities valued for use as medicine or food, rather than as essential pieces of a natural order.

"The whole idea of ecology and ecosystems is a new thing in the culture," said Lu Zhi, a professor of conservation biology at Peking University.

Scientists say China's status as a leading center of biodiversity makes the threatened state of wildlife a global concern. Many of China's species are concentrated in the mountainous southwestern region -- sometimes popularized in the West as Shangri-La -- as well as in Tibet, Hainan Island and along the North Korean border. Endangered indigenous animals include the giant panda, several varieties of pheasants and monkeys, and a range of small mammals including shrews and rodents.

"China is one of a small handful of countries, maybe a dozen, that has remarkably high numbers of species, and a remarkably high number of species that are not found anywhere else," said Jeffrey A. McNeely, chief scientist for the World Conservation Union.

Nearly every major international conservation group has established a China office to promote different wildlife protection initiatives. The group WildAid has sponsored a public education campaign featuring billboards with the Chinese basketball star Yao Ming. "Endangered species are our friends," Mr. Yao said at a news conference last year in Beijing.

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