There are only 3 known specimens of the Yangtze giant softshell turtle left alive, all male, after the one female specimen died in a Chinese zoo. She had been living with one of the males in the zoo; the other two males live in a lake in Vietnam.
It is hard to determine an average size due to the limited number of specimens left alive but it seems to grow larger than alligator snapping turtles and other softshells, making it the largest. They can weigh anywhere from 150-220 pounds.
These turtles are called softshell because their shells lack scales and seem leathery and pliable. Their softer shells allows the turtles to move more easily through open water and through the mud on lake bottoms, allowing them to sit and wait for food to come to them.
Specimens are extremely difficult to find and identify because they spend so much time at the bottom of lakes, only coming up to breath. Unless a wild female is found this species will become extinct when the three remaining males die.
