Indian peacock softshell turtle

Peacock soft-shell turtle ( Aspideretes hurum )

The peacock soft-shell turtle ( Aspideretes hurum ), also called Four Eyes Turtle, is an aquatic turtle species of the genus Indian soft-shelled turtles. She is in Northeast India, and found in southern China and Bangladesh and lives mainly in the river beds of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Subarnarekha and waters. It has also been a copy in the Indus sighted in Pakistan. Some herpetologists, however, doubted whether in this animal species was determined correctly.

Appearance

The peacock soft-shell turtle reaches a carapace length of up to 60 centimeters. The carapace is olive with a yellow front rim for adult forms. The plastron, is light gray. At the top it has a black grid drawing and large orange or yellow spots. It is characterized especially by large peacock eye -like drawings on their carapace from what she owes her name. These are one to three pairs of eyes round, depending on the copy.

Males from the females they can by their longer and thicker tail distinguished. For them, the cloaca is also closer to the tail tip.

Way of life

Peacock soft turtles are mainly crepuscular and nocturnal animals. Young animals also burrow in the sand like a bottom of the water bottom. Of them, then the eyes and nostrils are still visible. The animal feeds in addition to freshwater fish and small insects.

Mating takes place in the water. The round, hard -shelled eggs are laid by the females during the winter months.

Stock

The species is listed in Appendix I of the CITES agreement, so that a commercial trade in these animals is no longer legally possible. It is protected by the Indian Wildlife Act since 1972 and is also subject in Bangladesh Policy. In a study that was conducted in 1983, this type, however, the third most traded species was still on the markets in the East Indies.