A 500 sui4 turtle found in Guang3dong1

A villager (村民 • cun1 min2) from Guandong province (廣東省 • Guang3dong1 sheng3) captured (獲 • huo4) a wild (野生 • ye3 sheng1) turtle (鱉 • bie1) which the experienced fisherman guessed (猜測 • cai1 ce4) could be at least 500 years old (五百歲了 • wu3bai3 sui4 le5).

While fishing (釣 • diao4) in a brook near the Raoping district in the city of Chaozhou (潮州市饒平縣 • Chao2zhou1 shi4 Rao2ping2 xian4), he detected (發現了 • fa1xian4 le5) a giant turtle's neck (巨大的鱉的脖子 • ju4da4 de5 bie1 de5 bo2zi5) caught in the fishing line (魚線 • yu2 xian4).

The giant turtle's weight (重量 • zhong4 liang4) is calculated to be approximately 70 kilograms (公斤 • gong1 jin1); the body weight (體重 • ti3 zhong4) of an ordinary (普通 • pu3 tong1) man. The appearance of the turtle's shell (殼 • ke2) is that of a piece (一塊 • yi1 kuai4) of green (綠色 * lv4 se4) glossy (光滑 • guang1 hua5) stone (石頭 • shi2tou5).

This "Large Longevity God" (大壽星 • da4 shou4xing1), as the villagers called the turtle, was scheduled to be released (放 • fang4) into a large reservoir (大水庫 • da4 shui3 ku4) in Raoping as part of the Mid Autumn Celebrations.

Good for them!

"© Photographer: Noel Powell | Agency: Dreamstime.com"

The fei1zhou1 da4 xing1xing5 might become extinct in 10 years

Gorillas (大猩猩 • da4 xing1xing5), the largest living primates and human's closest relatives (类最近的近亲 • ren2lei4 zui4jin4 de5 jin4 qin1), are seriously at risk of extinction (滅絕 • mie4 jue2)

In the past 15 years ( 在过去15年 • zai4 guo4qu5 shi2wu3nian2), the Ebola (埃博拉 • ai1 bo2 la1) virus (病毒 • bing4 du2] )has made 1/3 of the gorilla's population disappear. Scientist (科學家• ke1 xue2 jia1) warn that if this tendency continues (繼續下去• ji4 xu4 xia4 qu5) , the entire species will be extinguished (消亡 • xiao1wang2) in less than 12 years.

This terrible virus has killed at least 1300 people in Central Africa (中非• Zhong1 Fei1) in the last 30 years. In most of these cases the source has been traced to the consumption of contaminated apes (猿猴• yuan2hou2) or antelopes (羚羊 • ling2yang2).

Carefully monitoring of the gorilla population in the Republic of Congo (剛果共和國 • Gang1guo3 gong4he2guo2) has revealed that the dissemination of the disease between gorilla groups has played an important role in the spread of the Ebola virus.
Unfortunately, due to the high mortality rate (死亡率• si3 wang2lv4) affecting the gorilla population, it would only take about 23 soccer fields (兩三個足球場 • liang3san1 ge4 zu2qiu2 chang3) to locate the remaining global (全球 • quan2 qiu2) surviving members of this species (種 • zhong3).

Isn't this sad?

© Photographer: Vincent Giordano | Agency: Dreamstime.com"