Big Headed Turtle behavior

The Big-Headed Turtle is an interesting, unique turtle native to Southeastern Asia. They are relatively easy to care for in captivity and, with their docile temperament and unique appearance, can make excellent pets.

The uniqueness of the Big-Headed Turtle has resulted in its being a monotypic turtle, meaning that it has its own family. It was once thought, to be closely related to the Snapping Turtle, but further research has resulted in it being placed in its own group, the Platysternidae. While capable of hunting in both land and water, the Big-Headed Turtle prefers living in mountain streams where the water flows fast and there are plenty of rocks and boulders. While the ambient temperature of the air in the regions of Africa in which the Big-Headed Turtle lives, are fairly warm, being tropical or semi-tropical, the water temperature of the streams can be as cold as 12 degrees Celsius, or 53 degrees Fahrenheit. The Big-Headed Turtle has a fairly long lifespan in captivity. While the exact age is unknown, as few Big-Headed Turtles have been bred in captivity, some specimens have lived as long as 27 years in captivity, in addition to however long they lived in the wild. In captivity, Big-Headed Turtles are capable of adapting quickly to new routines, such as feeding. This demonstrates an innate intelligence. They are moderately curious and will explore their surroundings. Also, unlike many turtles, the Big-Headed Turtle notices glass walls and usually recognizes them as walls. In the wild, Big-Headed Turtles spend much of their time in the water or hiding in burrows or crevices. They venture out in the evening to hunt along the sides of the stream. Although the Big-Headed Turtle spends much of its time in water, it is not very adept at swimming. Instead, it is very good at walking and climbing, characteristics that make it capable of clinging to rocks in the fast moving water. They are exceptionally good at climbing, in part because they have a reduced bridge between the carapace and plastron that results in their being able to move their feet and legs more than other turtles. Their center of gravity is situated more forward because of the size of their head, and they are thought to use their tails and beaks as climbing aids.

Complete List
African helmeted terrapin	Australian snake necked turtle	Big Headed Turtle	Black Marsh Terrapin	Blanding's Turtle
Bog Turtle	Box Turtle - Chinese	Box Turtle - Eastern	Box Turtle - Gulf Coast	Box Turtle - Indonesian
Box Turtle - Keeled	Box Turtle - Ornate	Box Turtle - Three Toe	Cogwheel Turtle	Diamondback Terrapin
East African Side Necked Turtle	European Pond Turtle	Florida Cooter	Fly River Turtle	Honduran Wood Turtle
Leaf Turtle	Map Turtle	Mata Mata Turtle	Musk Turtle	Painted River Terrapin
Painted Turtle - Eastern	Painted Turtle - Western	Red Eared Slider	Reeve's Terrapin	Snapping Turtle
Softshell Turtle - Black Rayed	Softshell Turtle - Eastern Spiny	Softshell Turtle - Florida	Spotted Turtle	Wood Turtle - Central American
Wood Turtle - North American	Yellow Spotted Amazon River Turtle	African Spurred Tortoise	Aldabra Giant Tortoise	Bow-Sprit Tortoise
Burmese Brown Tortoise	Chaco Tortoise	Desert Tortoise	Egyptian Tortoise	Elongated Tortoise
Forsten's Tortoise	Galapagos Tortoise	Gopher Tortoise	Greek Spur Thighed Tortoise	Hermann's Tortoise
Hingeback Tortoise - Bell's	Hingeback Tortoise - Home's	Impressed Tortoise	Leopard Tortoise	Leopard Tortoise - South African
Marginated Tortoise	Pancake Tortoise	Radiated Tortoise	Red Foot Tortoise	Russian Tortoise
Star Tortoise	Yellow Foot Tortoise

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Big_Headed_Turtle".