This species was "rediscovered" in 1995 when a local peasant presented two specimens to a dealer in the Ruili food market in China. The last prior recorded siting of this turtle had been in 1908, which until that point was the sixth specimen known to exist. Since the 1995 "rediscovery", there are have been approximately another 40 specimens of this rather large gregarious turtle which have been found, all having come out of Ruili. Indications are that Geoemyda depressa does not do well in captivity. The only two captive reproduction programmes for G. depressa are hindered by the complete void of natural history information of this turtle and further exacerbated by confusion as to where the natural range of G. depressa actually is.