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Cause for cheer

R. KRITHIKA

Photo: AP

Four-eyed turtle: A baby Beal.

Once common in southern China, the Beal’s four-eyed turtle is now critically endangered and so the hatching of the rare turtle at Tennessee Aquarium was cause for cheer. Apart from the Tennessee Aquarium, the Dallas Zoo and the Charles Paddock Zoo in Atascadero, California, exhibit the 18 known specimens in the U.S. and Europe. The turtle has two white spots on its head that mimic a pair of eyes thus leading to its name. “This little turtle may represent the fi rst successful reproduction of Sacalia bealei in a North American institution,” aquarium herpetologist Enrico Walder told AP. With a slow reproductive rate and used in Chinese cuisine and traditional medicine, the numbers of this reptile have been falling steadily.

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