Wild Facts

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Podocnemis_unifilis.jpg

I was having a tough time deciding which animal to talk about today when it dawned on me that I haven’t talked about a turtle in a long time.  So today we get to look at the Yellow-Spotted River Turtle.  I recommend you grab your coffee (or juice in a sippy cup for our younger audience), sit back and enjoy the presence of this super cool turtle.

So what makes the Yellow-Spotted River Turtle so super cool?  Well, it is a turtle and all turtles are awesome. I also think it is pretty interesting that these turtles live in the Amazon River basin.  During the wet season though they will also venture out to hang in the flooded forest. I guess if you are a terrestrial animal like a squirrel then you would start to worry when you see the turtles moving in. For some reason, I picture an old, cranky squirrel yelling at his wife, “Martha! Martha! Pack your nuts, the Turtles are here.  We are heading for the hills!” Wow, it must have been a long day for me. I highly recommend you keep reading since I have no idea what else I might say today.

The Yellow-Spotted River Turtle is a type of side-necked turtle which can weigh up to 25 pounds.  For the record, it is the female turtle that weighs the most in this species.  I just realized that I didn’t explain what a side-necked turtle is.  Would you like to know? Of course you would.  Well, the side-necked turtles aren’t like your typical turtle.  You know the ones that pull their heads straight back to hide in their shell.  Nope, these guys simply bend their necks sideways and tuck their head under the lip of their shell.  From what I can tell from this description, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles would have been your typical type of turtle.  Well, as typical as a mutant turtle can be.

Yellow-Spotted River Turtles – The sex of this particular turtle is determined during the very early stages of their life (obviously!).  Believe it or not the temperature that the eggs incubate at will actually determine if you are having a boy or a girl.  Eggs incubated below 32 degrees Celsius (90 degrees Fahrenheit) will produce male turtles.  I am sure you can guess that eggs incubated above this temperature will produce females.

Well that is all for me folks.  Have a great day!