Yellow-headed box turtle

other

Yellow-headed box turtle (Cuora aurocapitata)

Species of the year 2018

The box turtle owes its slightly technical-sounding name to a simple mechanism which enables it to clap its plastron shut by a hinge at the front and the end. This locking mechanism is very effective against natural enemies but not against humans. Due to intensive „harvesting“ for the food and medicine industry it is critically endangered.

The box turtle is the Species of year 2018


Category: other

Age: 7 – 8 years

food: invertebrates, insects, vertebrates

habitat: wetlands

Danger: threatened with extinction (CR)

distribution: China: Anhui Province

distribution area