There is more than one individual Hoan Kiem turtle in Dong Mo Lake

The Asian Turtle Conservation Program (ATP) said that, with recent observations and records, more than one individual Hoan Kiem turtle can be found in Dong Mo Lake. This opens hope to restore the world's rarest turtle population.

According to ATP, local fishermen have said that many of these giant turtles are currently living in the lake. This observation comes from observations of individuals of different sizes or sizes of turtles' lacerations left on the fishing nets of local fishermen.

However, for a long time, photographs were taken of the same individual Hoan Kiem turtle , the individual that was rescued after exiting Dong Mo Lake after the historic flood in 2008. At that point, this individual weighs 67kg but currently, this individual can gain weight up to 120kg to 140kg in the past decade.

While taking photos of the Hoan Kiem turtle, it is often observed that another smaller individual appears at a distance of about 50m from the boat of observers.

However, recently, on August 6, 2018, when conducting observations in the no-fishing area, near an artificial spawning site established by ATP on Dong Mo Lake, the observation team consisted of two rich cadres. ATP's experience has observed two large soft-shell turtles at the same time.

More specifically, when photographing the individual Hoan Kiem turtle is often observed, another smaller individual appears at a distance of about 50m from the boat of the observers. At that time, these two individuals are about 100m apart.

The team observed and recorded a number of characteristics of this individual such as yellow highlights on the head, short nose and size corresponding to the estimated weight of about 40kg.

This observation is not enough to confirm that there are two individuals of Hoan Kiem turtles in Dong Mo Lake, but it gives new hope for the preservation of the rarest and rarest water turtle in the world.

ATP said it will improve and expand existing artificial spawning grounds and is discussing how to set up a mobile spawning site to avoid the current spawning situation that is often flooded due to replacement. Change of seasonal water levels in the lake.

Recently, Hanoi City People's Committee issued a Plan to preserve individuals of Sin-hoe (Hoan Kiem turtle) in Dong Mo lakes and Xuan Khanh lake in the period of 2018-2020, oriented to 2030 with long-term goals. is to prevent the decline, gradually recover, improve and increase the number of Hoan Kiem turtles in Hanoi city. This discovery opens hope to restore the world's rarest turtle population in Vietnam.