The Cantor's GIANT SOFT-SHELLED Turtle

The Cantor's giant soft-shelled turtle (Pelochelys cantorii) is a species of fresh water turtle. The turtle has a broad head and small eyes close to the tip of its snout. The carapace is smooth and olive colored. Juveniles may have dark-spotted carapaces and heads, with yellow around the carapace.

Cantor's giant soft-shelled turtles can grow up to 6 feet (about 2 meters) in length. P. cantorii is an ambush predator and primarily carnivorous, feeding on crustaceans, mollusks and fish (although some aquatic plants may also be eaten).

The turtle spends 95 percent of its life buried and motionless, with only its eyes and mouth protruding from the sand. It surfaces only twice a day to take a breath, and lays 20-28 eggs (about 1.2 to 1.4 inches [3.0-3.5cm] in diameter) in February or March on riverbanks.


Distribution
The turtle is found primarily in inland, slow-moving fresh water rivers and streams. There is some evidence that its range extends to coastal areas as well.

The turtle was once distributed across India, Bangladesh, Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, the Philippines, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Sumatra, Borneo, and western Java.

The turtle is regarded as endangered, and has disappeared from much of its range. Until recently, it was last seen in Cambodia in 2003. A 2007 survey of one area of the Mekong River in Cambodia found the turtle in abundance along a short 30-mile (48 kilometer) stretch of the river.

The species is not found in New Guinea, while the two other members of the genus Pelochelys, P. bibroni and P. signifera are both restricted to New Guinea.

P. cantorii is relatively unstudied, and it is possible that the current species may actually be composed of several taxa. One recent scholarly study showed that what was once thought to be P. cantorii in New Guinea was actually Pelochelys bibroni, and that earlier studies of P. cantorii only described populations further to the west.

Despite reports that it can grow up to 1.8 metres (5.9 ft) in length and is the world's largest extant freshwater turtle, this maximum size and title is murky at best.  Apparently the largest specimen carapace length, 129 cm (51 in), known is considered suspect and the heaviest specimen known (weighing approximately 250 kg (550 lb) was actually a misidentified Yangtze giant softshell turtle. A more realistic range of carapace length for this species is reportedly 70 to 100 cm (28 to 39 in) and it is one of about a half-dozen giant softshell turtles from three genera that reach exceptionally large sizes, i.e. in excess of 100 kg (220 lb) in mass.

Source(s): Wikipedia