When filmmaker Eric Goode sat down with Joe Rogan on the Joe Rogan Experience to promote his HBO docuseries “Monsters of God,” the conversation took a turn that left Rogan visibly surprised. The topic: a single turtle worth up to $40,000, consumed in China for its alleged ability to cure cancer.
Goode, who has spent decades working in reptile conservation and previously produced “Tiger King” and “Chimp Crazy,” explained that China operates enormous turtle farms, some housed in multi-story buildings, where individual animals change hands for extraordinary sums.
“They sell one turtle for as much as like $20,000. One turtle,” Goode told Rogan. He was talking about the Golden Coin turtle, a critically endangered Chinese Asian species.
Rogan pressed Goode on why a single turtle could command such a price. The answer came down to belief.
“For whatever reason, this turtle is called a golden coin turtle,” Goode explained, noting its scientific name before adding that it “is very coveted and apparently it has certain properties that can cure cancer and other diseases, and so this turtle is high on the list for consumption for medicinal reasons.”
The price tag, Goode clarified, can go even higher.
“You can see 20 grand, 40 grand. As high as 40 grand,” Rogan read out. Wild-caught specimens are considered more valuable than farm-raised ones, for a reason that mirrors beliefs around other traditional medicine ingredients.
Just as wild rhino horn is thought to carry more medicinal properties because of what the animal eats in nature, a wild Golden Coin turtle is believed to hold more healing power than one raised in captivity.
Rogan, still processing the figure, asked whether people buy them purely as a health precaution.
“Okay, so you could just get it just as like a prophylactic turtle. You eat it for medicine to make sure you don’t get sick,” he offered. Goode confirmed that was indeed part of the market.
Goode also put the larger stakes in perspective. “There’s a lot of people in China and if you want to save someone’s life, you’ll pay whatever it takes to save,” he said.
Rogan then asked, “So when they’re buying it for $20,000, they’re buying it to try to save someone’s life?”
Goode agreed and continued, “Or someone’s sick or they really want good health and they’re wealthy.”
Rogan’s reaction summed it up plainly: “Sounds crazy though that it’s $20,000 for a turtle.”
