Pig-Nose Turtles are a dark brownish color with some whitish spots on top. Underneath it is white-tan with a light red. This turtle is a small turtle. It has flap like limbs to help it swim faster. Its nose looks like it belongs on a pig. Or like a snout. That’s where the name pig-nose comes from. It has a small tell. It is a soft shell turtle. A ten year old male can be 24 cm in length. A ten year old female can be 25 cm in length. They are found in southern New Guinea, Iran Jaya and Northern Australia.

 

They live in rivers, lagoons, and estuaries. It can sometimes be found in open water and brackish water. It does well in it ecosystem because it uses its fin like limbs to swim away from what eats it. But it doesn’t get away all the time. The population is shrinking because they aren’t getting away from their predator. There are still are still a lot of them. They are not as much as there use to be.

 

The pig-nose turtle eats fruit as in fig and such. It will eat mollusks, worms, and crustaceans. It eats plants such as algae and water like plants. It will also eat ants and beetles. But it will eat anything it can find. It is low in the food chain because it eats low in the chain. Alligators eat the turtle and bigger animals as such. They dodge being eaten by swimming away and spreading out. To prevent from getting eaten they also use their fin like limbs which makes it easier to out swim its predator.

 

They compete for food with other lagoon, river, and open water turtles. It doesn’t get the food that it wants it dies fighting for food. But sometimes it backs away if it gets hurt or can’t compete for the food. It fights for life sometimes too. But usually it just gets eaten or hurt. What shocked me the most when I was reading was what it looked like. What also shocked me was how small it is. It was looked like a normal turtle in size. But I saw it in a human's hand and that surprised me. Its nose looks like it belongs to a pig. I learned that it is a freshwater turtle and what it eats. It is a very small creature. It could fit in the palm of a little kids hand.

 

Author: Stephen B

Published: 05/2009

 

Sources: http://www.australianportraits.com/aquarium/topics/creatures/tortoises/australia-pignose.htm http://www.chelodina.com/10.htm

 

Photo Credit: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pig- Nosed_Turtle_Carettochelys_insculpta_Diving_2260px.jpg