Rare turtles known for their permanent smiles saved from extinction

A rare species of turtle, known for boasting a 'permanent smile', has recently been saved from extinction through conservation efforts in Myanmar.

Per a recent report by the New York Times, the Burmese roofed turtle was presumed extinct by zoologists two decades ago. The cheerful-looking animals once predominantly thrived in the Irrawaddy River, which lies due south of the city of Yangon in the South-East Asian nation. But their population faced significant challenges as a result of human trapping and the over harvesting of their eggs.

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However, in 2001, a live specimen of the Burmese roofed turtle turned up for sale in an animal market in Hong Kong. The creature was purchased an American collector, who still has it in his possession to this day.

As a result of this news, a University of Western Australia biologist surveyed the upper Chindwin River, where an American expedition had once collected some of the turtles in the 1930s, and it wasn't long before Dr. Gerald Kuchling managed to rediscover some and bring them back from the brink.

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Now, thanks to a decade-long collaborative breeding effort between the Turtle Survival Alliance, the Wildlife Conservation Society, and the Myanmar Forest Department, the population of captive turtles has now risen to nearly 1,000.

Not only that, but a number of the smiling reptiles have been released back into their natural habitat, in the hope that this will lead to a further resurgence.

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Per the New York Times, Rick Hudson, president of the Turtle Survival Alliance, commented on the good news by stating: "When the species showed up in a pet shop in Hong Kong, it raised a lot of eyebrows, there were a number of local dealers smuggling star tortoises out of Burma at that time, so we just assumed it had been smuggled out by the same traders."

Meanwhile, Steven G. Platt, a herpetologist at the Wildlife Conservation Society, stated: "We came so close to losing them. If we didn’t intervene when we did, this turtle would have just been gone."