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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