Arakan Forest turtle hatched at Zoo Atlanta

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Atlanta Zoo Breeds Endangered TurtleBy DORIE TURNER (Associated Press Writer)From Associated PressMay 01, 2007 1:33 PM EDTATLANTA - Zoo Atlanta has hatched a rare Arakan forest turtle, avictory for researchers trying to save the endangered Asian species -one shell at a time.The week-old turtle is the fourth of the brown-and-tan spottedreptiles born there in the last six years, zoo officials said Tuesday.Two of the hatchlings have died.The zoo is the only facility in the world successfully breeding theArakan forest turtle, which is one of the planet's most criticallyendangered species. They were believed to be extinct for close to acentury, but appeared in Asian food markets in the mid-1990s.Another baby could be on the way as zoo keepers wait to see if anotheregg will

hatch.Scientists blame the rapid disappearance of the Arakan forest turtle -much like other shelled reptiles - on their popularity in Asia forcooking and medicinal purposes."For a species this close to extinction, it is simply not acceptablethat they are being eaten," said Joseph Mendelson, curator ofherpetology at the zoo.Captive breeding programs don't "solve the problem of them beingoverharvested in the wild. It does make sure they don't go extinctwhile we work to solve that problem," Mendelson said.The turtle, native to the Arakan hills of western Myanmar, has anabysmal survival rate. Hatchlings often die both in captivity and thewild, and Asian food traders are plundering the population of adultturtles that could keep the species going.The turtles are very delicate and mate only once a year."The animals seem to be extremely difficult to establish incaptivity," said Peter Paul van

Dijk, director of the tortoise andfreshwater turtle program for Conservation International.The eggs take 100 days to hatch. The zoo has had the pair of matingturtles since 2001 when the Turtle Survival Alliance bought them froma Chinese food market.Though conservationists prefer to preserve endangered animals withintheir natural habitats, captive breeding programs act as "as insurancepolicies," particularly with the demand for turtles in Asia, van Dijksaid."It's really a tragedy to lose a species that took millions of yearsto evolve," he said. "It's irreplaceable."There are only 12 of the turtles living in captivity in the UnitedStates - at Zoo Atlanta, the St. Louis Zoo, the Miami Metro Zoo andRiver Banks Zoo and Garden in Columbia, S.C.

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