Pig-nosed Turtle Facts

Pig-nosed Turtle Profile

Before Michelangelo, Donatello, Leonardo and Raphael, there were some early prototype turtles. These incredible reptiles predate dinosaurs by some way. They show up in the fossil record as far back as 260 million years ago, which was truly the land before The Land Before Time.

Turtles once spanned most of the globe, and have covered it all at one point or another. Today they are much more limited by competition, but several ancient lineages are still trooping. One such line, though, has been all-but snuffed out, and may end in our lifetimes. The truly ancient and weird Carettochelyidae of turtles now only contains a single, dwindling survivor: the bizarre-looking pig-nosed turtle, and it’s in serious trouble.

Pig-nosed Turtle Facts Overview

Pig-nosed turtles are the last of their kind, a dying race, numbly rehearsing the ancient ways in a blur of forgetfulness. They are highly specialised, heavily restricted and very unfussy about their food and for the longest time, this has proved an adequate survival strategy.

But this is a slow-growing turtle, with a naturally small range and apparently irresistible eggs; a lethal combination of factors that will spell its demise if nothing is done quickly!

Interesting Pig-nosed Turtle Facts

1. They’re unique

There are around 360 species of turtle left with us today, most of which are aquatic. Tortoises are essentially land pond turtles, and belong to the major groups of turtle: the suborder Creyptodira. This suborder contains the vast majority of turtles, and is split into four superfamilies. The tortoises and pond turtles belong in one, sea turtles in another, South American freshwater turtles in the third, and soft-shelled turtles, like the pig-nosed turtle, in the last. This is the Trionychia subfamily, and it houses 14 genera of turtles in it, across two families. One family has 13 genera, and the other, the Carettochelyidae family, contains just one. And in this single genus is a single species: the pig-nosed turtle.

So, this poor turtle is the last and only of its kind left on the planet, but a member of a family whose members once spanned much of Asia, North America, Europe and Africa.

Today, there’s just one, limited to New Guinea and a small patch of northern Australia, and despite its heritage, the species is poorly understood.

2. They are snorkelers

The turtle’s long neck and piglike snout are adaptations for breathing while submerged. This is a highly omnivorous species of turtle who will eat almost anything at all, ranging from freshwater salad plants to carcasses of dead mammals found on the banks.

They have decent vision and well-adapted ears, so it’s likely that they communicate with sounds and probably with body language as well, but nothing seems to have been confirmed about this yet. It appears that females do communicate with one another somehow, as they let each other know where the best laying sites are, with the lowest density of predators.

This species is well protected by its shell, but the eggs are particularly vulnerable and commonly eaten by lizards. ¹

3. They live for a long time

As young turtles, this species feeds mostly on small invertebrates, but moves through a range of food sources as it gets larger.

This process takes a really long time, and the individual may live close to 40 years in the wild, only reaching sexual maturity at around 25 years of age.

This makes their generation times very long – up to 40 years in some cases. Slow and steady doesn’t always win the race, though, and really works best as a survival strategy in ecosystems without humans in them.

4. They have a small range

To make matters even more vulnerable for these special testudines, the habitat of the pig-nosed turtle is quite limited. Its natural range was small to begin with, but habitat fragmentation and destruction around Australia New Guinea have further limited its ability to live and breed with stability.

In Australia, it’s habitat degradation that is the primary threat, but in New Guinea, they have a second worry from the native islanders.

5. They’re tasty

In New Guinea, this species is hunted for meat. Even more, the eggs are a delicacy and commonly sold in markets.

The destruction of their nests is the biggest threat to the species as a whole, and with their slow reproductive cycles, their very small natural range, and the gradual reduction of it, the human-caused destruction of this species in its entirety is imminent.

6. They’re in serious trouble

In one study in 2011, 92% of pig-nosed turtle nests were lost to egg collectors and flooding. This is a huge mortality rate for a damaged species.

Eggs are also collected for the international pet trade, and in the ‘90s, 2 million of them were estimated to have been collected each year.

With the increasing availability of outboard motors on boats, this exploitation has expanded into deeper realms, and if these stats seem worryingly outdated, it’s because the last IUCN assessment was all the way back in 2017, when the species was listed as Endangered and in decline.

Today, it’s hard to say how much worse it has gotten, but general trends in conservation do tend to be bad worldwide. One thing that may slow this destruction down, however, is the rising oil costs. ²

7. Rising fuel prices could save them

Human population increases are expected to cause a rise in turtle consumption and an increase in the destruction of their habitats.

During the last assessment, it was stated that this turtle is the second-most seized species of turtle worldwide, showing that the pet trade is also a massive threat.

But as the populations close to shore disappear, fuel is required to go and find the rest of them, and if oil prices become high enough, the fuel becomes prohibitively expensive and makes collecting the turtles and their eggs less economically appealing.

Furthermore, trade in this species was dramatically reduced even by the time of the last assessment, so with any luck, this has dropped even further.

As endangered as they are, these efforts, along with the drive to make their harvesting financially unappealing, show some promise for their conservation. ³

Pig-nosed Turtle Fact-File Summary

Scientific Classification

1. Ekta Patel (2012), “Carettochelys insculpta ”, Animal Diversity Web.
2. Eisemberg et al (2017), “Pig-nosed Turtle”, IUCN RedList.
3. (2017), “Pig-nosed Turtle”, IUCN RedList.