They also criticized the fact that Le et al. violated ICZN Code by renaming the species from leloii to vietnamensis on the grounds of “appropriateness”.

[7] Another genetic analysis was purportedly when the turtle was rescued and cleaned, which allegedly showed it to be female and distinct from the R. swinhoei of China and Đồng Mô, Vietnam.

[8] Đức has also hypothesized that Emperor Thái Tổ of the Lê dynasty brought the turtles from Thanh Hóa Province and released them in Hoàn Kiếm Lake.

Recently, Đức and some researchers found skeletons of giant turtles in Yên Bái, Phú Thọ and Hòa Bình provinces.

According to legend, Lê Lợi had the sword named Heaven's Will given to him by the Golden Turtle God, Kim Quy.

One day, not long after the war and the Chinese had accepted Vietnam's independence, Lê Lợi was out boating on the lake.

[11] In 2000, professor Hà Đình Đức gave the Hoàn Kiếm turtle the scientific name Rafetus leloii.

On February 9, a local turtle farm operator, KAT Group, was chosen to prepare a suitable net to capture the sacred animal.

It is also badly polluted, although the turtles could conceivably live underwater indefinitely, coming to the surface only for an occasional gulp of air or a bit of sun.

The banks have been almost entirely cemented over, leaving only a few yards of rocky beach where a turtle might find a place to bury her clutches of 100 or more eggs.