HANOI: US researchers have found a rare giant turtle in northern Vietnam after a three-year hunt — a find sure to thrill both scientists and locals, who consider the animal a mythical creature.

The Swinhoe’s soft-shell turtle was believed to be extinct in the wild.Only three of the turtles are known to exist in captivity — two are at zoos in China, and one is in Hoan Kiem Lake in downtown Hanoi.

But US and Vietnamese researchers recently focused their search for the world’s largest freshwater turtle to a lake west of the capital, after local residents claimed to have spotted the animal there.

The turtle — which can live to be more than 100 years old — was photographed on the lake’s surface, announced the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, which sponsored the search along with the Cleveland Zoological Society.

The turtle — which can weigh up to 300 pounds (135 kg) and measure up to 3.5 feet (one metre) — has come under threat mostly from hunters, who kill it for food or to make traditional medicine from their bones.—AFP