(WTVC) Chattanooga — “We are looking at Pig-Nosed turtles, they are also called fly-river turtles. They are a very odd species from New Guinea and the northern tip of Australia,” said Bill Hughes, a herpetologist at the Tennessee Aquarium.
Hughes said they are an intermediate creature, describing them as “wannabe sea turtles.” They are in a family all by themselves and no other creature is closely related to them.
“They are fully aquatic and kind of look like sea turtles. They have feet paddles. Their rear feet are paddles and they rarely come out of the water,” said Hughes.
Besides the flippers, pig-nosed turtles also have a very peculiar nose.
“They are called pig-nosed turtles for an obvious reason, they have that kind of snorkel pig nose,” said Hughes.
Even Hughes isn’t completely sure of the the nose’s exact purpose, but it does help them breathe without getting out of the water.
These omnivorous pig-nosed turtles grow to be pretty big, but very slowly. It takes them close to 20 years to reach full size, which is 40 pounds and 3-feet-long.
Females lay eggs in sand banks during the dry season and the babies will remain in the eggs until water reaches them. The water triggers the hatching. For more information on the pig-nosed turtle from the Tennessee Aquarium, click here.
Source : newschannel9.com
