The turtle weighs nearly 1kg, is about 20cm long, and has a tail nearly as long as its body, discovered in the forest in Quang Nam.
On April 10, Mr. Chau Minh Ninh – Director of the Protection Forest Management Board of Bac Tra My district, Quang Nam province said that the same morning, while patrolling the forest in Tra Cang commune, members of Chot Giang – Son forest protection station of Forest Protection and Fire Prevention and Fighting Management Station No. 4 discovered an individual turtle caught in a forest wire.
Immediately after discovery, staff freed the turtle, checked its health status and released it back into the natural environment.
Staff freed the turtle, checked its health status, and released it back into the natural environment. (Photo: LK)
According to observations, this individual turtle weighs nearly 1kg, is about 20cm long, has a tail nearly as long as the body, the head is covered with very hard horn pieces that cannot retract into the shell, and the upper jaw forms a hook like a parrot’s beak.
This is the identifying characteristic of big-headed turtles (two-part nomenclature: Platysternon megacephalum).
This species lives in streams in the forest, where the water is clear and flows slowly at an altitude of more than 600m above sea level in natural forests from the North to the Central and Central Highlands. During the day they hide under rocks or bask in the sun on stream banks, and at night they look for food including invertebrates, mollusks or small crustaceans. When mature, big-headed turtles can reach a shell size of more than 20 cm.
This turtle species is listed as critically endangered in the world red book due to over-exploitation and trade. If not stopped, this species will disappear in the near future.
In Vietnam, big-headed turtles belong to group IB on the strictly protected list in Decree 06/2019/ND-CP and are listed as endangered and rare wild animals in need of protection. under Decree 64/2019/ND-CP of the Government. Violations related to big-headed turtles will be severely punished.
Thanh Ba