Soft-shelled Turtle

Soft-shelled Turtle is distinctive in appearance, having flat, smooth, soft, and rubbery rounded shells that are usually similar to pancake. Its back is olive, dark green or gray and the plastron is white or pink in color. It has webbed feet, long necks and elongated proboscis-like snouts bearing the nostrils at the tip. Females are considerably larger than the males.

Soft-shell Turtles are swift-moving carnivorous reptiles. The species lives in slow-flowing rivers or ponds with sand or mud bottom. Sometimes the turtle lies buried in mud or sand and occasionally emerge to bask in the sun. The tissues in the pharynx help the reptile to extract oxygen for respiration from the water. It is aggressive when captured and is capable of biting viciously.