Rare giant turtle found in Viet lake after 3-year hunt

HANOI - US RESEARCHERS have found a rare giant turtle in northern Vietnam after a three-year hunt - a find sure to thrill both scientists and locals, who consider the animal a mythical creature.

The Swinhoe's soft-shell turtle was believed to be extinct in the wild. Only three of the turtles are known to exist in captivity - two are at zoos in China, and one is in Hoan Kiem Lake in downtown Hanoi.

But US and Vietnamese researchers recently focused their search for the world's largest freshwater turtle on a lake west of the capital after residents claimed to have spotted the animal there.

The turtle - which can live more than 100 years - was photographed on the lake's surface, announced the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, which sponsored the search along with the Cleveland Zoological Society.

'This is an incredibly important discovery because the Swinhoe's turtle is one of the most critically endangered species of turtle in the world,' said Mr Doug Hendrie, Vietnam-based coordinator of the zoo's Asian Turtle Programme.

'This species has legendary status among the people of Vietnam, so this is perhaps an opportunity for the legend to live on,' he said in a statement dated on Wednesday.

According to a Vietnamese legend, a 15th-century farmer-turned-rebel leader, Le Loi, used a magical sword to drive out Chinese invaders and found the dynasty named after him.

When Le Loi, by now the emperor, went boating on Hoan Kiem Lake one day, a turtle appeared, took his sacred sword and dived to the bottom of the lake, keeping the weapon safe for the next time Vietnam may have to defend its freedom.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE