By Vo Hai   December 19, 2020 | 12:03 pm GMT+7 vnexpressThe rare Rafetus swinhoei, or Hoan Kiem (Sword Lake) turtle, spotted at Dong Mo Lake in Hanoi. Photo courtesy of the Asian Turtle Program.Tests have confirmed that the turtle recently discovered in Hanoi’s Dong Mo Lake is a rare Hoan Kiem turtle, authorities announced on Friday.

Ta Van Son, director of the city Fisheries Department, said a group of its researchers at Dong Mo Lake spotted the turtle on October 22.

Scientists weighed, measured and took samples for genetic testing and released the animal back in the lake.

Experts from the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology and Vietnam National University Hanoi analyzed its DNA and concluded it belongs to the species Rafetus swinhoei.

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SCMP

• On January 1, China will no longer be accepting waste from other countries, with Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia likely to feel the brunt of the new policy
• Although the three countries have taken steps to deal with mounting trash, corruption and weak policies could doom them to remain buried in refuse

A river canal in Ho Chi Minh City choked by mostly plastic waste. Photo: Sen Nguyen

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Red-crowned cranes at Anlung Pring Sarus Crane Sanctuary, Cambodia, 2015. Photo by Nguyen Cong Toai.

By Hoang Nam   December 15, 2020 | 08:00 pm GMT+7 VnExpress

Losing their natural habitat and food source, red-crowned cranes no longer call a national park in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta home.

For three decades, Tram Chim National Park in the reed fields of Dong Thap Muoi in Dong Thap Province has been famous as a natural habitat for the large East Asian red-crowned crane, among the rarest in the world and classified “endangered” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species.

The cranes usually descend on the park from December to May, southern Vietnam’s dry season, to forage and mate prior to the onset of rainy, flood-prone weather.

But in recent years, the story has changed.

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