Vietnamese Three-striped Box Turtle
Cuora cyclornata
Vietnamese Three-striped Box Turtle
Cuora cyclornata
CC target
50 keepers
As at 11/2024
CC target
100 animals
As at 11/2024
CC target
50 keepers
As at 11/2024
CC target
100 animals
As at 11/2024
There’s joy in one thing and sorrow in another: China’s growing population and increasing prosperity have meant that many people there can now afford the odd little luxury. People simply love them: In the Asian turtle crisis, an entire group of animals on a continent is in danger of disappearing forever. As a result, incredible numbers of turtles were collected not only in China, but also in neighbouring countries, to be offered for consumption at the Chinese live animal markets, which have been known worldwide since the coronavirus pandemic. This gave rise to the term ‘Asian turtle crisis’ back in the 1990s. Almost all turtle species in Asia are now critically endangered or threatened with extinction – or have already been wiped out in the wild.
Award-winning species protection
The International Centre for Turtle Conservation (IZS) at Münster All-Weather Zoo
934 Turtles from 19 taxa hatched at the IZS by the beginning of 2024 under the watchful eyes of the team (here species conservation curator Philipp Wagner).
It was a long journey before the IZS could be built. Numerous institutions, companies, associations and individual donors collected money for it, including the Dutch turtle organisation.
The room for tropical turtles shortly before its opening in 2003
In October 2003, the time had come: the grand opening
View of the tropical breeding room in the IZS, which is now lush and overgrown
View of the cold winter room for subtropical tortoises
Breeding terrariums for young tortoises – the incompatible animals must be kept individually for the longest time
Contribution to species conservation: Vietnamese Three-striped Box Turtles mating
Freshly uncovered box turtle enclosure in an aquaterrarium at the IZS
Hope for an entire species: Hatching of a Vietnamese Three-striped Box Turtle
The future of box turtles is in our hands: Cuora cyclornata hatchling
Citizen Conservation wants to help establish a stable ex situ population of Vietnamese box turtles for the next decades.
Ingrid and Elmar Meier have been honoured with the highest civilian award of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2024 for their services to the conservation of Asian turtles.
Northern Vietnamese Three-striped Box Turtle (Cuora cyclornata meieri) was scientifically named in honour of its rescuer.
Culinary treasures
The rarer the tortoise, the higher the price. At the peak of the trend, several thousand euros were paid for particularly rare box turtles – per piece! No wonder that the poor rural population in neighbouring Vietnam also set out to collect the last Vietnamese box turtles from the forests. Today, the species is as good as extinct in its original habitats. Until recently, the three-striped box turtles found in Vietnam were considered to be populations of a species that is also widespread in China. However, more recent research has shown that they are separate species. The ‘old’ three-striped box turtle was already considered ‘threatened with extinction’ – the highest endangerment category in nature. And now it turns out that there are actually five subspecies of two different species … The situation for each of them is correspondingly bad.
The Asian turtle crisis
Turtles for sale on a road in Vietnam
In the 1980s and 1990s, millions and millions of turtles taken from the wild were sold on live animal markets in Asia
Deadly treat – soft-shelled turtle in a bed of rice
Empty habitats were left behind in Vietnam
Threatened with extinction: Indochinese box turtle, Cuora galbinifrons
Threatened with extinction: Yellow-headed Box Turtle, Cuora aurocapitata
Threatened with extinction: Bourret's Box Turtle, Cuora bourreti
Threatened with extinction: Pan's Box Turtle, Cuora pani
Threatened with extinction: Annam Leaf Turtle, Mauremys annamensis
Threatened with extinction: Sulawesi Forest Turtle, Leucocephalon yuwonoi
No specimens of Zhou's Box Turtle are known to exist in the wild; the species has only been ‘discovered’ occasionally at market stalls
Disorderly breeding
In view of the enormous economic potential, it is no wonder that real factory farms for turtle breeding have sprung up in China. The problem is that it is all about producing food. When breeding animals, no attention was paid to where they came from. This is why different species and subspecies of Box turtles have been mixed together – the resulting hybrids are not only worthless for species conservation, but also pose a threat themselves. This is because there is now a danger that they will mix with the last pure-blooded tortoises.
The rarer the turtle, the higher the price.
© Torsten Blanck
A hobby keeper as guardian angel
Some box turtles, possibly including the Vietnamese, would probably have been lost long ago if it hadn’t been for a turtle friend from Westphalia who had been keeping and breeding Asian turtles for many years. One day, Elmar Meier realised that he had some of the last representatives of their species swimming around in his aquaterrariums at home. He knew how to get these sensitive animals to breed. But he also knew that as a single person he could not save entire species in the long term.
Ingrid and Elmar Meier – with Northern Vietnamese Three-striped Box Turtle, Cuora cyclornata meieri © Christian Langner
In the spirit of Citizen Conservation
Elmar succeeded in convincing the Allwetterzoo Münster to set up a turtle conservation centre with him. The idea: Elmar made his animals, his knowledge and his voluntary commitment available for two and a half decades, while the zoo provided space, food, electricity and water. With the help of numerous supporters, money was raised for the construction of the ‘International Centre for Turtle Conservation’. It worked – the IZS was opened in 2003. Together with his wife Ingrid, Elmar bred numerous tortoises there, which were then distributed to other zoos and private keepers. Now that Elmar is going into well-deserved retirement, his work will be continued by the zoo. Because conservation breeding requires staying power. With his idea of cooperation between private experts and a zoo, Elmar successfully anticipated the principle of Citizen Conservation. It is therefore only appropriate that a newly described subspecies of the Vietnamese box turtle was named Cuora cyclornata meieri after its saviour – and that Elmar and Ingrid were awarded the Federal Cross of Merit on Ribbon in 2024 for their life’s work.
For breeders
Basic information on biology and breeding
Box turtles must be kept individually. They are only put together for mating under supervision. Adapt the aquaterrarium to the size of the turtles; from 40 x 40 x 30 cm for young animals, after 8–10 years 150 x 80 x 60 cm for adults. Cool hibernation, 25–35 °C in summer. Weekly water changes. The tortoises are omnivores: worms, insects, fish, meat, fruit, pellets ...