This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The world’s rarest turtle has moved closer to extinction after a female died in a Chinese zoo, leaving just three known members of the species.

The Yangtze giant softshell turtle, believed to be more than 90 years old, died in Suzhou zoo on Saturday, according to the Suzhou Daily.

Its death came a day after staff at the facility attempted to artificially inseminate the animal using semen from a male more than 10 years her senior, the newspaper reported.

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The zoo had tried unsuccessfully for several years to get the pair to reproduce naturally. An autopsy would be performed, Suzhou Daily said.

Besides the male at Suzhou zoo, there are only two other known members of the species left, both living in the wild in Vietnam and of unknown gender, according to conservationists.

The Yangtze giant softshell turtle, the largest freshwater turtle in the world, grows to 100cm (39in) and weighs up to 100kg (nearly 16 stone).

Its main habitat was the Yangtze River and other inland Chinese waterways, however, aquatic life in China’s rivers has dwindled after centuries of hunting and, more recently, decades of pollution, shipping traffic and ecological disruption by hydroelectric dams.