Amazing nature #69 - Meet the wonderful long-necked turtle
Today I bring you a little about a variety of a beautiful turtle that is somewhat different from the rest, this is the case of the long-necked turtle, is originally from Australia. Join me to learn about this incredible animal.
As we know Australia has a good ecological reputation, and an impressive variety of unique animals, because of its location some species evolved in incredible ways, when the English arrived in Australia they realized that there were species that had never seen their eyes, I would like to know what happened to the group of people who first saw a kangaroo or a platypus, must have been an experience of another level and exciting.
It is a semi-aquatic turtle of the genus Chelodina, its appearance stands out among other turtles by its elongated neck, has a fairly flat shell and wide, is brown with black edges.
It is also known as the Australian snake-necked turtle.
Its morphological aspect is below white or yellow, is composed of about 9 bony plates covered by about 13 corneas, which connect to the shell, its neck is elongated almost equal to the length of the shell and in turn covered by pointed tubers, its head is small with a slight depression moderate, its snout is short but robust, with powerful legs with webbed toes each with 5 nails.
In this species the female is bigger than the males, the precloacal part of the tail in the males is deeper and longer, somewhat more developed than in the females, when their size can reach about 20 cm and are naturally in Australia, love the lagoons with little current, and swamps, there is only one month in which they are not seen walking on land, this for the dry season.
At 7 years of age, males are ready to procreate while females reach sexual maturity a little later, from 10 to 11 years. Their mating season occurs in the summer, when females are most active for spawning, as many species have a courtship where synchronously male and female move their heads, then the male mounts the female, nests for egg laying are built on preferably clay soils.
Just as their marine cousins make their nests in the moonlight, females generally lay between 6 and 23 eggs a year. Incubation time is approximately 3 to 4 months.
As far as its feeding this turtle is carnivorous, they love the fish, mollusks, amphibians and some that other invertebrate, also as other species not everything is meat, also it feeds of aquatic vegetation.
Fortunately, this turtle is out of danger of extinction because it is sought neither for its meat nor for the breeding in captivity so it enjoys good health and a good number of specimens that can be seen by means of excursions in its natural habitat.
This is one of the most beautiful things that Australia has is its collective awareness of not damaging the ecosystem, although most animals are reptiles are poisonous and highly dangerous, it is not exactly something that an Australian has in mind to hunt animals for sport or to consume them, so in general terms the species on this continent are in prosperity and although there is some other case of poaching this does not happen frequently, on the contrary, there is a deep respect for natural life, as the aborigines of that continent have maintained over thousands of years.
Thank you for reading
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Wow. Nature never ceases to surprise us. I had never seen a turtle like that. We had a regular turtle, my wife freaks out at the very sight of them. We ended up giving her away. I can't imagine what she'd do is she sees one of this ones.
XD ahahahah
It's apparently possible to hit 76 reputation by posting facts and photos obtained from google - good to know!
The guy holding the turtle like that might have had a surprise... they can be fast and the neck rotates 180 degrees; and those turtles are not known by their friendliness 😁😁
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