Yellow-spotted river turtle

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Onglets

Description

Distinguishing features

This tropical turtle has a flattened, oval-shaped shell that ranges in colour from brown to grey. Its cream-coloured plastron is marked with dark patches. Its limbs, broadened at the forearms and equipped with webbed toes, are perfectly adapted to life in the water.

The young have yellow spots on their heads. Only the males retain these spots as they mature.

Reproduction

The yellow-spotted river turtle breeds during the dry season, at times of year that vary depending on where it lives. Egg-laying usually takes place at night on a variety of soil types, especially sandy riverbanks.

The female digs a shallow hole, lays between 22 and 28 eggs, and then covers them with soil. Incubation lasts about 60 days. Once the eggs hatch, the young turtles make their way back to the river on their own.

An interesting fact is that the ambient temperature during incubation influences the sex of the hatchlings. According to a study conducted in Brazil, nearly 70% of the eggs produce males. The current population, in turn, shows a male-to-female ratio of 9 to 1. These observations point to a fragile imbalance in the population as a whole.

Diet

Mainly herbivorous, the yellow-spotted river turtle feeds on stems, seeds, and fruits that have fallen into the water. It also occasionally supplements its diet with invertebrates or fish.

Predators

Nest raiding is one of the main causes of mortality in this turtle, with the South American coati and the crab-eating fox among the main culprits.

Young turtles are preyed upon by a range of riverbank predators, including lizards, jabirus, herons, caracaras, and even urubus (american vultures). Caimans also pose a threat in their habitat.

Habitat

The yellow-spotted river turtle is found across several Amazonian watersheds, including those in Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, and Bolivia.

It lives in freshwater habitats such as rivers, seasonal lagoons, floodplains, and flooded forests.

Unfortunately, habitat degradation is accelerating for this species, leading to a rapid decline in populations. River pollution, hydrological disturbance, and the loss of nesting beaches all reduce its ability to reproduce.

Gold mining, or the extraction of gold from the ground, also poses a serious threat to the species, as sediment dredging destroys its habitat. In addition, the mercury used in this process contaminates the water and accumulates in the turtles’ tissues, causing physiological disorders.

Logging worsens the situation by increasing erosion and reducing the amount of shade needed to maintain the thermal balance of nests. Finally, the fragmentation of riverbank habitats increases the species’ exposure to poaching.

Ecology, behaviour

This turtle spends much of the day regulating its body temperature, climbing onto exposed tree trunks or sandbanks to bask in the sun. A social species, it often gathers in groups during this activity.

Its behaviour is closely tied to hydrological cycles. As water levels fall, it concentrates in deeper areas, while in the rainy season it moves into flooded forests, which are especially rich in resources.

French name

Podocnémide de Cayenne

Scientific name

Podocnemis unifilis

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Reptilia

Order

Testudines (Chelonia)

Family

Podocnemididae

Size

Average length of male: 35 cm; average length of female: 45 cm

Weight

Up to 3.5 kg

Life span

23 years

Status

Vulnerable species

At the Biodôme

These turtles can be seen in the marsh near the exit of the Tropical Rainforest ecosystem.

There, they are fed vegetables, fruit, and a specially prepared protein mix. This comes in the form of a gelatin cube made from dog food, trout feed, and mealworms. They also sometimes eat the roots of water lettuce when it is present in the habitat.

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