The last individual of the population in Yangtze River, believed to be more than 110 years old. He used to be kept in the garden of Chang-Shan Ju (昌善局), an ancient funeral home for wealthy Suzhou citizens, most likely as a life-release or merit-release animal, a common Buddhist practice of buying animals destined for slaughter with the presumed intention of saving their lives. Since the funeral home stopped taking new animals in 1928, the date of capture must be sometime before that. In 1954, the local government decided to turn the site of Chang-Shan Ju into Suzhou Zoo, so the turtle is actually the zoo's first and oldest resident. He lived in the old zoo site for more than 88 years before relocating to the current site in 2016.
@Summer Tanager Thanks! He stayed underwater for most of the time and didn't even show up for the feeding time during my visit (They feed him every other day around 1pm when he's not in hibernation), which made every minute he surfaced truly rewarding.
