Overview
“Where I live”
African mud turtles are found throughout eastern and southeastern Africa as well as Madagascar and the Seychelles. They inhabit shallow waters of soft-bottomed marshes, swamps, streams, rivers, and ponds.
At the Zoo, these turtles can be seen swimming in the African River exhibit in the Chimpanzee Forest.
“How I live there”
This turtle is dull in color and blends in easily to its aquatic habitat. It has a smooth, domed, dark-colored carapace (top shell). Its plastron (bottom shell) can be brown, grey, black, or yellow. It is supposedly most active at night but because it is secretive by nature and spends most of its time in water, it is difficult to know its habits well. Others have reported seeing these turtles basking and sometimes wandering on land during the rainy season. If it gets too hot, too cold, or too dry, black mud turtles will burrow into mud and aestivate (remain dormant, with slowed metabolism) until conditions improve.
“Making my mark”
This turtle is also known as the East African side-necked turtle because its neck retracts sideways.
Raising Young
Females dig nest cavities and lay their eggs in late winter or early spring. Baby turtles hatch out about two months later.
“What threatens me”
The East African black mud turtle is considered a hardy species that does not have a well advertised list of predators. Like other freshwater turtles, it is protected by its shell and its ability to escape underwater. However, like other turtles, juveniles can be quite vulnerable to predation and even adults will occasionally be predated upon by a larger animal that can bite through its shell.
Conservation
This species has an expansive range and is relatively abundant in the wild. It does not appear to be threatened, although over-collection for the pet trade could become a long-term concern.
Taxonomy
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Chordata
- Subphylum: Vertebrata
- Class: Reptila
- Order: Testudines
- Family: Pelomedusidae
- Genera: Pelusios
- Species: subniger subniger