10 Types of Turtles That Make You Go, “Wow!”
One of the things that most of us love about turtles is the way they look. With their wise faces, they seem to be as old as time, yet they can display some very cute characteristics. Their shells can be stunningly beautiful, and this has led to some species being hunted almost to extinction, as humans desired ornaments made from their shell. They can also have startlingly lovely patterns on their head, neck, and legs.
Some turtles have special characteristics or lifestyles that are truly fascinating. Their breeding, living, breeding, and defense habits can be the study of a lifetime. Whether you are interested in starting a turtle collection, want to know more about turtles in their native homes, or simply are trying to decide which one you want as a pet, this list will point you in some interesting directions.
Just Leave The Little Guy Alone
Always remember that many turtles are protected, so if you see a turtle in the wild, just leave it where it is to live out its life. And that life can, astonishingly, be as long as a hundred years or more.
If you are planning to buy a turtle, please remember to make sure that the turtle you are buying is captive bred – not stolen from the wild. Good pet stores will be happy to show you proof that their turtles are bred for the pet trade, and not captured.
But Is It Legal?
You should check local regulations before you purchase a turtle, especially an unusual one. Throughout the United States, it is illegal to keep a turtle less than 4″ long as a pet. This is because of the fear that smaller animals will be handled by children, with the possibility that the turtles will spread disease.
In some states, the keeping of turtles as pets is prohibited. To get an update on the laws as they affect you, this is a useful source of information. Ten Interesting and Beautiful Turtles You’ll Want To Get To Know.
1. The African Helmeted Turtle -Pelomedusa subrufa
The African helmeted turtle, sometimes known as the marsh turtle, the crocodile turtle, or the African side-necked turtle, goes around with a big, wide, sunny smile on its face. You’d think he had come straight out of a particularly adorable Disney cartoon.
This cute-looking character is in fact a merciless killer. It eats carrion if that is all that’s around, but it has been observed catching live birds, dragging them to the bottom of his pond, drowning them, and eating them. (Everyone has got to eat….) He also has a habit of tucking his head in sideways, rather than withdrawing it into his shell.
To find the African helmeted turtle in the wild, you need to go to sub-Saharan Africa or Madagascar. They are just about the commonest turtle in Africa. He likes to live in marshes, ponds, watering holes, and rivers.
When they want to bask, they often find a nearby hippopotamus which makes a convenient sunbathing platform. They are even thought to eat little parasites that live on the hippo’s back – a good example of a symbiotic relationship. The hippo gets a cleanup, and the turtle gets a snack and a sunbathe.
2. The Mata Mata Turtle – Chelus fimbriatus
The mata mata turtle is a master of disguise. He looks just like a piece of flotsam when he is resting in the water. His carapace – upper shell – looks just like wood, and his head and legs look just like dead and dying leaves. Each individual mata mata turtle has its own unique combination of camouflage, so a collection of them will give you some very varied creatures to enjoy.
A big turtle, measuring up to three feet long and weighing in at 45 lb., the mata mata is not keen on rushing around. He likes to live in swamps, marshes, and around slow-moving stagnant water. This South American turtle also has a rather long and pointed nose. He can just poke this out of the water, a bit like a snorkel, while he lies in wait for his fishy dinner. He doesn’t swim all that much, instead preferring to just stand in the water with that nose poking out, waiting for prey to come along. They feed pretty much exclusively on small fish.
3. The Box Turtle Family
Box turtles have a unique ability that they use to protect themselves from danger. They can shut themselves inside their shell by hinging the bottom shell up to create a tightly sealed box that you just can’t break open. This is in contrast to most turtles, who simply withdraw their head, legs, and tail into their shell, still leaving themselves a bit exposed to the enemy. As well as having this unique capability, box turtles are usually rather beautifully patterned. They can be found throughout the United States and in parts of Central America.
Although it isn’t considered endangered as a family, some species of box turtle are under a certain amount of threat due to habitat loss, pollution, road kill, and being taken for the illicit pet trade. If you want more information on the endangered status of box turtles you can find it here.
4. The Roti Island Snake-Necked Turtle – Chelodina mccordi
This is a very rare turtle indeed, being found only on the Indonesian island of Rote. Because of its beautiful appearance, it has been predated by the illicit pet trade, and it’s now strictly protected. The population in the wild is very small, and it doesn’t seem that it has any enemies apart from humans.
So what makes this turtle so desirable to collectors? It has the most spectacular appearance, with a neck as long as its carapace, or upper shell, making it look almost snake-like. Growing to around 9″ long, it is a spectacular sight with its neck extended. Its coloring is mainly brown and gray, with a white plastron, or lower shell. It has black eyes which are surrounded by a white ring, adding to its snake-like appearance.
5. The Painted Terrapin – Batagur borneoensis
This gorgeous creature is its own worst enemy. Its beautiful appearance has made it desirable for collectors and as a pet, and so it has been captured from the wild to be sold in the pet trade. This has led to its being listed as critically endangered.
Found in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and Brunei, it’s a river-dwelling turtle that loves to swim. It’s also considered good to eat, so it has been the target of local fishermen for the food market. Another factor in making this one of the most endangered turtles on earth is habitat destruction. Palm oil plantations have decimated the natural places where these turtles like to make their home. (If you want to help save turtles, don’t buy palm oil or products with palm oil in them. Palm oil plantations around the world are tremendously destructive of turtle and other animal habitats.)
Unusually, this turtle has webbed feet that help to make it an efficient swimmer. It has a grayish shell with black marking, but it really comes into its own in the breeding season, when adult males develop a red slash on their head that is very distinctive and gives them their name. The skin on the rest of the head pales to a brilliant white color that attracts females.
The painted terrapin has a rather comical face, with a cartoon turtle expression, making them very endearing. You can find out more about the world’s most endangered turtle species, of which the painted terrapin is one, here.
6. The Black Pond Turtle
Meet a south Asian turtle that is unusual and attractive. Very dark brown or black in color, it has bright yellow polka dot markings on its head, neck, and legs. It’s sometimes called the Indian pond turtle, or the spotted pond turtle.
This is one of the bigger turtles, growing to as much as 16″ long. As the name suggests, they like living in ponds and slow-moving water. They have large heads, and a cute blunt nose. This is another turtle that loves to swim, and it has webbing between its toes to give it extra speed and maneuverability in the water. They live to be around twenty years of age and are considered to be vulnerable, most through loss of habitat and pollution.
7. The Pig-Nosed Turtle – Carettochelys insculpta
The endangered turtle is found in Australia, Papua New Guinea, and Indonesia. Surprise, surprise, it has a kind of pig snout, which gives them a very endearing expression. One of the bigger freshwater turtles, it can grow to around 28″ long, and weigh up to 40lb or more. Only found in New Guinea and Australia, these turtles, unlike most freshwater turtles, have webbed feet, indicating that they are used to spending a lot of time swimming.
They have a greenish gray carapace (upper shell) and a yellow plastron (lower shell). Their shell is leathery in texture, indicating that they may be able to dive to depths. They are omnivorous, and enjoy eating all kinds of things: fish, worms, mollusks, crustaceans, and they have a special love of figs – both the fruit and the leaves.
8. The Spiny Turtle – Heosemys spinosa
This is a gorgeous turtle with a beautiful carapace that has a border of scalloped spines. It also has a high spiny ridge, and the picture is made complete by its dark brown and chestnut coloring and swirling patterns. It’s also known as the cog-wheel turtle, which is a very apt and descriptive name because it does look rather like a cogwheel.
They generally live at lower elevations, lower than 900 meters. They like ponds and streams in forested areas. These are found in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Sumatra, the Philippines, and Brunei. The spines are thought to be a defense mechanism – it would be very hard to eat a spiny turtle! Younger turtles are the spiniest, as they are small, and the most vulnerable to predators. As spiny turtles get older, their spines wear down, and their carapace becomes much smoother.
Shy and retiring, they are not often observed in the wild, as they venture out at night, hiding in piles of leaves during the daytime. One interesting characteristic of the spiny turtle is how the males react to rain. Rain seems to stimulate their desire to mate, so in captivity, they have to be sprayed with water before they become interested in love-making.
Spiny turtles are on the endangered list. It’s a sad fact that many of the most fascinating turtles are under threat. Fortunately, in the case of the spiny turtle, there is a lot of captive breeding taking place in the US, legally of course, so the possibility that the species will actually die out is not as great as if the wild population was all that there was.
9. The Red Bellied Short-Necked Turtle – Emydura subglobosa
Also called the Jardine river turtle or the pink-bellied side-necked turtle, this animal has a spectacular red-colored lower shell in its youth. The shell fades to orange or yellow as it gets older. Their head is olive colored, and you can spot a yellow stripe along the side of the head to the eye. Females grow to around 10″ long, while males are a little bit smaller. They have been known to weigh up to 50lb.
Its eye-catching coloration makes it a favorite turtle to keep as a pet. As it is endangered in its home range, the turtles that you can find in pet stores are captive bred, mostly in Florida.
It’s endemic to Australia and New Guinea, where it can be found in lakes, lagoons, rivers, and swamps. They like spending time in the water, and they also love to find a sunny spot where they can bask. As turtles are cold-blooded, most need this input of solar energy regularly. It’s one of the turtle family that doesn’t retract its neck, rather, it tucks it in sideways when it wants to protect itself.
10. The Spiny Softshell Turtle – Apalone spinifera
Something of a giant among North American freshwater turtles, these can grow to as much as 19″ long. Found in Mexico, the United States, and Canada, they have spines along the front of their leathery, olive-colored carapace, giving them a rather prehistoric look. There are five sub-species of the spiny softshell turtle, exhibiting slight but distinctive regional variations.
Adult males keep their youthful olive and green coloration, whereas females darken to gray and brown. This turtle species can live up to fifty years old, but they don’t reach sexual maturity until they are eight to ten years old. They lay as many as three dozen eggs at a time, and the hatchlings are, of course, left to care for themselves when they emerge – the most dangerous time in a turtle’s life.
The spiny softshell turtle lives in rivers and lakes, generally in larger bodies of water. This turtle needs to be close to sandy areas where it can deposit its eggs. They like to bask in the sun during the day and are most active at dawn and dusk, favored times for hunting the insects and small amphibious creatures that they eat. Unlike most turtles in this list, they are not considered to be under threat.
How Can I Save The Turtles?
If you are interested in conserving these and other fascinating turtles, you can find a lot of helpful information on the Turtle Conservancy website.