Testudines: Carettochelyidae - Pignosed Turtles
Fossil pignosed turtles date to at least 40 million years ago with remains known from central Asia, Europe and North America. However, today it is known from a single living species restricted to the Fly River area of New Guinea, and the Victoria, Daly, Alligator, and possibly the Roper Rivers of northern Australia. Carettochelys insculpta is omnivorous, with a preference for vegetation. They feed on ribbon weed, but also take fruits and flowers that fall into the water. On occasion they eat insects, crustaceans, and molluscs. The largest specimens approach 600 mm in carapace length. They use stretches of rivers with sandy substrates and fallen trees. Clutches of 7-19 eggs are laid and they require at least 69 days of incubation, but emergence from the nest may depend upon the rains, and hatchlings may stay in the nest much longer than the incubation time. Estimates of age of sexual maturity range from 14-16 years for the males, and 20-22 years for females. Hatchlings are about 50 mm, and it takes them about 15 years to grow to 300 mm in Australia's Daly River population. For more on this interesting turtle see John Cann's 1998 book Australian Freshwater Turtles.
The Pig Nosed Turtle, Carettochelys insculpta (Ramsay, 1886). This was a captive specimen photographed in a Singapore Laboratory.
