Vietnam scientists urge authorities to protect turtle of legend

Monsters and Critics -

Vietnamese scientists on Tuesday urged Hanoi authorities to wipe out an invasive species of turtles that is threatening endangered local species, including Hoan Kiem Lake's legendary inhabitant.

'Hanoi's authorities need to make a plan to kill these invaders because if there are no timely and proper measures, red-eared turtles would eat all foods of our native turtle,' said professor Ha Dinh Duc, an expert on the species. 'They even eat all plants in the lake, and the lake would not be green anymore.'

Amid the horn-honking hustle of Vietnam's capital, Hoan Kiem Lake is an oasis of relative calm that attracts tourists and locals alike, the luckiest of whom catch a glimpse of its 300-kilogram Ho Guom turtle, which is its most famous resident.

Turtles are important in Vietnamese culture, particularly the Ho Guom turtle. It is reclusive and rare and considered holy because of a 15th-century legend that claims King Le Loi drove out invading Chinese with a magical sword, which the gods gave him and which he later returned by giving it to the lake's turtle, which swam it back to the gods

Read more...

Posted via http://batavia08.posterous.com batavia08's posterous