Also known as Red River Giant Softshell Turtle, Shanghai Softshell Turtle, Speckled Softshell Turtle, Swinhoe's Softshell Turtle
Yangtze giant softshell turtles spend the vast majority of their lives submerged in deep rivers and quiet freshwater lakes, surfacing only briefly to breathe through their elongated, snorkel-like snouts. Their flattened, leathery carapaces lack hard, bony scutes, allowing them to bury deep within muddy sediment where they wait to ambush passing fish and aquatic invertebrates. Once revered in Vietnamese folklore as mythical protectors of dynastic swords, the species is now perched on the absolute brink of total extinction due to rampant overhunting and habitat alteration.
