They are called mata mata turtles, with extremely good camouflage ability. This species’ appearance resembles a piece of tree bark with spiky scales and it seems to always be smiling.
One of the largest freshwater turtles (their shell can be up to 45 cm long and weigh around 17 kg), the mata mata turtle is a rather strange-looking animal, at least by human standards. .
It has a disproportionately large head and a long and thick neck, with many warts and ridges on its face, called “warts”. On either side of its long snout is a horned plate that resembles a coin with holes in it, and its wide mouth makes the animal look as if it always has a smile on its face.
The mata mata turtle lives in northern South America. Includes the Orinoco and Amazon basins. Most distributed in Brazil, Guyana and Peru. In the turbid lakes of the Amazon and the Orinoco River, northern Bolivia, eastern Peru, Ecuador, eastern Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, central and northern Brazil. In addition, their footprints were found in Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, Colombia and Brazil and were also found on the island of Trinidad.
But while mata mata tortoises may be ugly to some, their appearance is actually an adaptation to their surroundings, providing some specific benefits.
Found in the Amazon and Orinoco river basins in South America, this turtle is carnivorous and nocturnal, preferring to hunt small fish and certain aquatic invertebrates at night.
Although they have a large shell, they can also fall prey to predators, such as crocodiles.
The mata mata turtle is a sedentary turtle with a flat, triangular head. The nose is tubular and partly horned. They are shaped like a dead leaf and have a pale yellow color. Because its shell looks like a dead leaf, it is also called dead leaf turtle. When attacked, they can retract their head, tail and limbs into their shell.
Although the ridges, bumps, and flaps of skin that cover the body may make them look unsightly to humans, those layers of skin actually have several important functions. One of them is camouflage – making themselves look like the rotting and decaying wood of the swamp – which is relatively common and inedible in the river basin where the mata mata turtle lives.
This turtle’s skin and shell also provide a surface for algae and weeds to grow on, allowing it to disguise itself as an unattractive piece of rock or wood to predators.
Similar to other turtles kept as pets, mata mata turtles are also very large turtles, often growing to 43 – 45cm. The largest recorded was 61cm. Female turtles are usually larger than male turtles. Like other adult turtles, males have longer and wider tails than females. Their bodies don’t look too sturdy, somewhat similar to alligator turtles from North America. The strangest thing is that they have a beard around their neck.
Additionally, the wart-like appendages on this turtle’s face also function like a cat’s whiskers: they inform the turtle about the flow and movement of water, something useful for both hunting and avoidance. Big dangers like crocodiles entering the water.
Mata mata turtles also have a very strange way of hunting. They have been observed chasing and cornering fish, causing the fish to become trapped and wait for death.
When cornering its prey, the mata mata turtle will stick its head out and open its mouth as big as possible. It then creates a low-pressure vacuum to suck the prey into its mouth, known as suction. When the turtle closes its mouth, the water is slowly expelled and the fish is swallowed into its stomach (due to the very special mouth structure, this turtle cannot chew its prey).
This turtle is usually active in shallow water and its nose can breathe in the water. Mata mata turtles are not animals at the top of the food chain in the area where they live, so they can also become prey for many other species.
According to people who have raised mata mata turtles, they are probably quite intelligent. Captive mata mata turtles have even been observed using the flow of water pumps to trap prey in aquariums.
Mata mata turtles are not currently listed as endangered, but their unique qualities make the species a popular target for pet hunters, and they are often introduced into aquariums as pets. scene.
But because they are relatively difficult to keep as pets and are often stressed, they often experience health problems when kept in captivity.
Mata mata turtles usually live in lakes and crawl very slowly. This species is also highly aquatic and rarely leaves the water. Females will begin nesting between October and December. Their eggs are spherical, about 35mm in diameter, and will hatch after about 200 days of incubation.