Hilaire's Side-necked Turtle

Phrynops hilarii

Least Concern

The species is abundant and widely distributed; it faces no significant short-term risk. See full glossary

Hilaire's side-necked turtle — known in Spanish as tortuga de agua de Hilaire or tortuga de laguna — is a South American chelid with a long neck that it cannot draw straight back: it folds it sideways under the rim of the shell, as all the side-necked turtles of the southern hemisphere do. It is carnivorous and hunts fish, amphibians and invertebrates in the lagoons of the Southern Cone.

Weight

2 kg – 6 kg

Size

25 cm – 40 cm

Lifespan

30 years

Diet

Carnivore

Feeds mainly on other animals.

Activity

Diurnal

Active mainly during the day.

Social structure

Solitary

Lives and hunts alone, joining others only to breed.

Sighting difficulty

Easy

FreshwaterGrasslandCarnivore Diurnal Solitary Reptile Freshwater Grassland

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Fun facts

It does not pull its head straight in: it folds it sideways under the rim of the shell, a mechanism different from that of northern hemisphere turtles and one that characterises a whole lineage separate for more than a hundred million years.
The pleurodires, the group it belongs to, exist today only in South America, Africa and Australia, a distribution pattern that reflects the break-up of the supercontinent Gondwana.
It is commonly seen in groups basking on logs and banks in the coastal lagoons of Argentina and Uruguay, where it is one of the commonest aquatic turtles.

Life cycle & biology

Skeleton type: Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton with a shell (reptile)
Habitat & environment: Lagoons, marshes, slow rivers and wetlands of southern Brazil, Uruguay and north-eastern Argentina
Size at birth: About 4 cm of carapace on hatching
Sexual maturity: 6 years
Gestation / incubation: 120 days of incubation
Litter / clutch size: 12 eggs

Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrynops_hilarii