Fringed turtle

Kill kill kill
The name mata mata is Spanish and translates directly to "kill kill", probably because it looks dangerous.

Him or her?
The way to tell the difference between male and female is by looking at the tail. The male has a thicker and longer tail than the female.

Camouflage
They are so well camouflaged that you don't know how many there are and therefore can't evaluate how endangered they are.

You need air to breathe
They put their little nose above the water to breathe and therefore spend most of their time in shallow water.

• Distribution: Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Guyana, Suriname, Brazil, Trinidad and has been introduced to Florida in the US
• Stock: Insufficient data
• Weight: 15kg
• Shield length: 45 cm
• Neck length: 30 cm
• Gestation: 200 days
• Mating season: October to December
• Roughing period: 200 days
• Number of eggs: 12 - 28
• Food: Fish and crustaceans
• Zoo menu: Freshwater fish (shells, trout)
• Life expectancy: 15 years - IUCN: Not evaluated

The Fringed Tortoise is a solitary, nocturnal terrapin that lives in freshwater rivers, streams, marshes and swamps in and around the Amazon and Orinoco.

It has an unusual appearance with fringes all over its head and a wide, curved mouth that looks like it has a big smile all the time. The fringes on the side of the head help to detect movement in the water and are also used in mating rituals. In Danish it is sometimes called a fringe turtle.

If you look at the animal from above, it can be really hard to spot as the head looks like a leaf and the shield is a large piece of bark. This is an important part of the animal's hunting behaviour as it lies perfectly still in the murky waters until a prey animal comes along and it shoots its long neck towards the unlucky one, it then uses vacuum to swallow the animal and then lets the water it took in out again. During the development of this special foraging behaviour, it has lost the ability to chew and can only swallow its food. It sees very well - even at night, which is important when lurking in the dark water.

Males perform a mating behaviour where they stretch and move their limbs, throw their head with their mouth open towards the female and move their fringe. Females lay eggs 200 days after mating and then leave the nest for good. The chicks are already independent when they emerge from the egg after another 200 days.

The biggest threat to the Fringed Tortoise in the wild is the illegal pet trade where people take them out of their natural habitat and sell them to private individuals - mainly in the US and Europe. They are also in great danger of being affected by deforestation and climate change. They are important predators for their ecosystem as they control the populations of fish and invertebrates in the waters they inhabit so that there are not too many of them.