Tuesday, July 15, 2008

The Nordic Ark, July 12th 2008. Part Twelve

It says on the Ark's website that they have two turtle species, and one of them they actually did have. :-) These were of a species much rarer than longicollis - Mauremys annamensis, the Vietnamese Pond Turtle. The enclosure held four of these beautiful little animals. They are native to Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, but they are as good as extinct in the wild now. :-( There is one wild population remaining - discovered in 2006 somewhere in the vicinity of Hoi An - but, crazy as it may seem, they are still being hunted for food, so they really do live on the very brink of extinction. :-(

All four specimens were, unsurprisingly, juveniles. Smaller than the longicollis. (As adults they will most likely be somewhat larger.) They were very beautiful, but a little wary of humans. Two of them I could not lure over to me ;-) and the other two which did venture an interest only went so far as to nip at my fingertips a few times, and then retreated when I attempted to catch one of them. So I just took some pictures and left them to their own devices. :-)

(Photo credit: me)

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