Asian giant soft-shelled turtles live motionless in the mud at the bottom of rivers, only suddenly attacking prey that swims by.
Asian giant softshell turtles are extremely rare. Image: Ben G. Thomas.
Living in South Asia and Southeast Asia, the Asian giant soft-shelled turtle or Cantor giant soft-shelled turtle (Pelochelys cantorii), named after the Danish zoologist Theodore Edward Cantor. This species spends 95% of its life lying completely motionless, buried in mud or sand in shallow rivers, revealing only its eyes and snorkel-like snout. But when these strangely shaped reptiles spot food, they can move at lightning speed, following Live Science.
When seeing fish, crustaceans, mollusks, frogs, insects, birds, and small reptiles, Asian giant soft-shelled turtles quickly stretch their necks to attack their prey. They have long claws and extremely strong jaws, strong enough to crush bones.
Unlike its relatives the hard-shelled turtle, this large freshwater turtle has a smooth, flat green or brown shell. They are also called frog-faced soft-shelled turtles because of their frog-like facial features. They can grow up to 100 cm long, even grow larger and weigh over 100 kg.
Similar to other soft-shelled turtles, Asian giant soft-shelled turtles have the ability to filter oxygen from water through their skin, helping them stay underwater for long periods of time. However, because they can collect so much oxygen that way, they only come to the surface to breathe air twice a day.
This is an extremely rare endangered turtle. From 1985 to 1995, only one specimen was found. They are native to rivers in India, Bangladesh, Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, Philippines and Indonesia. In 2024, the first Cantor turtle nest was discovered by biologists on the banks of the Chandragiri river in Kerala, India. The research team used local community knowledge to find the turtle’s location.