One of the 41 turtles and tortoises on WAnimals
Reptiles · Testudines · Geoemydidae
Southeast Asian Box Turtle
Cuora amboinensis
It faces a very high risk of extinction in the wild in the near future. See full glossary
The Southeast Asian box turtle is a semi-aquatic turtle with a hinged plastron that lets it close up completely. It is one of the most heavily traded turtles in the world: hundreds of thousands are sold every year in Asian markets for food, traditional medicine and ritual release at Buddhist temples.
Weight
500 g – 2 kg
Size
15 cm – 25 cm
Lifespan
40 years
Diet
Omnivore
Combines animal and plant food depending on availability.
Activity
Diurnal
Active mainly during the day.
Social structure
Solitary
Lives and hunts alone, joining others only to breed.
Sighting difficulty
Hard
Fun facts
- It is one of the principal victims of what is known as the Asian turtle crisis: the trade for food, traditional medicine and ritual release moves millions of turtles a year in Asia and has brought dozens of species to the brink of extinction in two decades.
- Ritual release at Buddhist temples, conceived as an act of compassion, is counterproductive: the turtles are bought from traffickers, released into unsuitable habitats and feed the demand that sustains the trapping.
- Its hinged plastron lets it close up completely, a mechanism that has appeared independently in turtles of the Americas, Asia and Africa.
Life cycle & biology
- Skeleton type
- Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton with a shell (reptile)
- Habitat & environment
- Rice fields, marshes, slow streams and flooded forest of South-East Asia
- Sexual maturity
- 5 years
- Gestation / incubation
- 75 days of incubation
- Litter / clutch size
- 3 eggs
Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuora_amboinensis
Where to find it
See its range on the interactive mapWhere to watch it
Parques y spots de buceo donde se ha documentado esta especie — se muestran 10 de 25 documentados.
Related species
Other species in the catalogue with the most in common with Southeast Asian Box Turtle — same habitat, park, country, tags or family.
EndangeredLong-tailed Macaque
Macaca fascicularis
Greater Slow Loris
Nycticebus coucang
EndangeredMalayan Tapir
Tapirus indicus
EndangeredProboscis Monkey
Nasalis larvatus
EndangeredSunda Gharial
Tomistoma schlegelii
Southern Pig-tailed Macaque
Macaca nemestrina
How to help
The southeast asian box turtle is classified as endangered. Organizations such as UICN, WWF y Wildlife Conservation Society work specifically on its conservation and that of its habitat; looking into their programs is a good starting point if you want to get involved.
It's documented in 9 real protected areas — part of why protecting these places matters for its conservation.
Keep exploring
Based on what we already know about southeast asian box turtle.
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