Pig-Nosed Turtle
Carettochelys insculpta
An adult pig-nosed turtle inhabits large tropical rivers, lagoons, and floodplain wetlands in New Guinea and northern Australia. It is strongly aquatic, using powerful flipperlike limbs to cruise through open water and seldom leaving except for nesting. Adults feed broadly on fruit, leaves, seeds, mollusks, crustaceans, and other small aquatic animals. It is the only living freshwater turtle with fully sea-turtle-like flippers and has a leathery shell instead of the hard scutes seen on most turtles.
- Type
- Water / Shell
- Conservation status
- EN
Growth chain
- ?
- ?
- Pig-Nosed Turtle