The last known female Yangtze Giant Shortshell Turtle has died.
She was an impressive 90 years old!
Before her death, there were a total of four known Yangtze Giant Shortshell Turtle’s left in the world - three of them were male Yangtze Turtles and one of them was a female Yangtze Turtle. With the death of the last known female Yangtze Turtle, there are now only the three Yangtze Turtle’s left in existence on the Earth today.
As there are only male Yangtze Turtle’s remaining now, and no females, it means that they now cannot reproduce, which basically means that Yangtze Turtle’s are now functionally extinct. There is no hope now of saving the Yangtze Turtle now, as they cannot reproduce, and therefore, it is just a matter of time before they become extinct. The extinction of wild animals is becoming more common now.
The Sixth Extinction
The last known female Yangtze Turtle dying, is the Sixth Extinction in action. It is a reminder that we are now witnessing a Sixth Extinction on Earth.
This is not the first extinction of a wild animal this year.
There have been a few species which have already been declared extinct in 2019. Such as:
. The Bramble Cay Melomys
. America’s Reindeer
. And, The Tree Snail
But extinction is not the only worrying thing which is happening in the natural world: wild animal populations are also declining, and it is becoming an increasing, common and worrying trend in the natural world today.
These declining wild animal populations could see us lose even more species to extinction in 2019. For example, we have lost two-thirds of Vaquita Dolphins since 2019 began. There was 30 Vaquita Dolphins as we came into 2019, by March 2019, it was reported that there was now only 10 Vaquita Dolphins left in the wild. Likewise, we came into 2019 with 35 Scottish Wildcats. However, by February 2019, it was reported that there were now only 30 Scottish Wildcats remaining in the wild, and that they were ‘on the verge of extinction.’
It’s possible that two other wild animals that might become extinct in 2019, are the Vaquita Dolphin and the Scottish Wildcat: if there is not successful conservation work done to preserve and protect both wild animals.
The Yangtze River Dolphin
The Yangtze Turtle is not the wild animal to be driven to extinction in the Yangtze area: in 2007, the Yangtze River Dolphin become extinct.
The Yangtze River Dolphin was the first Dolphin to be extinct in modern times. Impressively, the Yangtze River Dolphin had survived for 20 million years. Sadly, human activity resulted in the Yangtze River Dolphin becoming extinct.
Sadly, it has also been human activity that has resulted in the extinction of the Yangtze Turtle: humans hunting these animals has played a major role in their decline, and near extinction. Another thing that has contributed to the Yangtze Giant Softshell Turtle becoming functionally extinct, is a loss of their habitat.
The Yangtze Giant Softshell Turtle is the world's rarest Turtle. There are now only three of them left in the world. An animal that has survived for 270 million years, survived the asteroid impact that destroyed dinosaurs, is now almost extinct because of humans. That is how devastating out impact on the natural world has become.