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Yellow-spotted River Turtle
Paignton Zoo is home to two yellow-spotted river turtles, Dwayne and Billy-Bob, who share a home with our caiman lizards, Basil and Biscuit, in Crocodile Swamp.
Class:
Reptilia
Order:
Testudines
Family:
Podocnemididae
About the yellow-spotted river turtle
The yellow-spotted Amazon river turtle is a medium-sized freshwater species with a dark olive shell and distinctive yellow markings on the head. Adults grow to around 30–45 centimetres in length.
It inhabits slow rivers, oxbow lakes and flooded forests within major South American river systems. An omnivore, it feeds on aquatic vegetation and invertebrates and may gather in groups at nesting sites.
Conservation
The species is listed as Vulnerable, with overexploitation of adults and eggs, habitat loss, and pollution across the Amazon, Orinoco, and Essequibo basin regions contributing to population pressures.