Photo: Screenshot of a video posted by Xinhua News Agency

A domesticated sea turtle in the Chinese mainland was reported to have laid 196 eggs in a nest, setting a new record in South China's Guangdong Province, media reported on Tuesday. 

The turtle laid three nests of eggs inMay, earning her the name "hero mother" turtle at the Huidong State-level Nature Reserve for Turtles. 

Since April 1, eight domesticated turtles at the reserve have deposited over 1,000 eggs, some of which have already hatched. 

Experts at the reserve have incubated over 2,500 eggs since 2017 when they began trying to figure out how to domesticate turtles, reported Xinhua News Agency. 

Xia Zhongrong, a senior engineer at the reserve, said each turtle has its QR code embedded on its shell, which contains basic information of the shell owner.

The reserve was established in 1985 and upgraded to national level in 1992. It has protected more than 80,000 wild turtles, which hatched nearly 70,000 hatchlings and released more than 60,000 turtles.

Five species of sea turtle have been listed as the first-class protected species in the latest version of China's List of Key Wildlife under State Protection in 2021.