African Turtle was Never Extinct: New Findings Reveal Species Didn't Exist

A species of turtle, named Pelusios seychellensis, once inhabited a series of islands off of east Africa, named Seychelles. A freshwater species, only three specimens of the turtle were ever collected. After discovering them in 1895, the turtle was never found again and was pronounced to be extinct by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Now, it turns out that the turtle never went extinct--that's because it never existed in the first place.

Researchers at the Senckenberg Research Institute in Dresden have discovered that the "extinct" turtle was actually another species called the West African mud turtle, which is currently still alive and well in Africa.

"We have examined the DNA of the original specimen from the museum in Vienna and discovered that these turtles are not a separate species," said Uwe Fritz, one of the researchers, in a press release.

The genetic analysis may have revealed that the turtle was, in fact, another species. But how did researchers make such a colossal mistake in the first place, and how come it took this long for them to realize their error?  For a long time, researchers were amazed at how similar the Seychelles turtles looked to the West African turtles. Yet because the turtles were located in such vastly different locations, scientists assumed that the Seychelles turtle must be a different species. In addition, genetic testing only became available relatively recently, which means that researchers were unable to absolutely disprove the finding. Many species can look relatively similar and sometimes the only way to tell the difference between the two is through the use of DNA. In fact, two recently discovered lemur species had just that very problem--it was impossible to tell them apart without genetic sequencing.

"What is certain even now is that the protection programs for turtles in the Seychelles will have to be revised, so that truly endemic animal species are protected and the scarce funds available for species protection are put to good use," said Fritz in a press release.

While the turtle may never have existed, the good news is that it also never went extinct.

The findings are published in the journal PLOS One.