Amazonian Turtles.

Turtles are old creatures in the evolutionary sense. The turtles seen today in Amazonian waters belong to a relatively ancient group called side-necked turtles (Pelomedusidae), which date back to the Cretaceous era. Side-necks do not pull their heads directly back under their shell, but rather tuck them sideways. The matamata (Chelus fimbriatus)  looks prehistoric, an imposing turtle that somewhat resembles snapping turtles.

Riverbanks, ought to be lined with basking giant arran turtles (Podocnemis expansa), which can weigh in excess of 45kg. Unfortunately, arran turtles have been so seriously reduced by hunting pressure, for both their meat and their eggs, that the species is now considered endangered, and they can be seen only in a few protected reserves. The turtle meat is quite edible, and it has been argued that the yield from turtles would be 400 times that of cattle if rainforest were converted to equivalent to pasture. But there is a problem, turtles don’t appear to bred well in captivity, so thus far arran turtles have yet to become “hamburgers on the halfshell”. And the species remain endangered.