IC Broadcasting’s Island Symbiosis – Listening to Taiwan explores the immediate need for Chinese box turtle conservation due to more than 80% of the population are being hunted

The Chinese box turtle, a class one protected (critically endangered) wild animal, is the only native land-based freshwater turtle in Taiwan. The turtles’ main habitats are the low-altitude forest floors and forest edges. When they are scared, the turtles will retract their head, tail, and limbs into their shell and tighten their abdominal shell. The turtles are also known as yellow-margined box turtle.

The Chinese box turtle does not feed on snakes as the Chinese name suggests. The name was already in use during the early days of the Japanese occupation. This name may have been derived from a misunderstanding of the older name for the Chinese box turtle, which has caused the general population’s misunderstanding of the turtle’s dietary habits. The Chinese box turtle is an omnivore that primarily feeds on plants, fruits, fungus, insects, earthworms, and other invertebrates, and the carcasses of dead animals. The turtles have not been observed to feed on snakes. The Chinese box turtle lays eggs between May and August every year. The female Chinese box turtles generally has one to two nests every year, with one to three eggs per nest. The bigger turtles can lay up to four eggs. However, the minimum age for egg-laying turtles is 13 years and because the eggs are a good source of food for many animals, the survival rate for baby turtles is very low. These characteristics have caused the Chinese box turtles to be unable to replenish their numbers quickly when facing habitat disappearance and fragmentation, or when hunted by humans. This has caused a crisis for their survival in the wild.

Assistant Professor Chen Tien-Shi of the Institute of Wildlife Conservation (NPUST), stated that poaching and smuggling is the greatest threat to the survival of wild Chinese box turtles. The investigation of cases of illegal smuggling of Chinese box turtles from Taiwan to China began in 2006. According to reports, around 20 metric tons of Chinese box turtles were smuggled from Taiwan to China in 2011, which equals around 40,000 individual turtles. The number of smuggled turtles have decreased in the following years, but this may not indicate success in the investigation of smuggling. Instead, this number represents the rapid decrease in wild populations which has caused the decrease in smuggling.

According to the surveys conducted in Yilan and Hualien from 2014 to 2015 and from 2018 to 2019, respectively, the distribution and population of wild turtles in common Chinese box turtle habitats have been rapidly decreasing for the last 15 years. Some populations have even disappeared. At the same time, illegal poaching has been serious and there are more poaching locations than actual Chinese box turtle habitats. Illegal poaching of Chinese box turtles in other counties is equally serious. Estimates are that the other wild populations are facing similar trends, suggesting that poaching and smuggling is not improving. Chen Tien-Shi believes that from a legal perspective laws and regulations should be amended to reflect the current situation. Victim compensation mechanisms, such as those found in the United States, should be implemented to issue reasonable fines. This episodes invites Professor Chen Tien-Shi of the Institute of Wildlife Conservation, NPUST, who has been studying Chinese box turtles for 25 years, to help us understand the current survival situation of Chinese box turtles and think about how to implement conservation actions.