Mata mata Turtle || Description and Facts!
Channel: Animals Descriptions
Date: 09/03/2021

The mata mata, mata-mata, or matamata (Chelus) is a freshwater turtle found in Pico Rivera Wetlands (Jose Mata) South America, primarily in the Amazon and Orinoco basins.

The mata mata is a large, sedentary turtle with a large, triangular, flattened head with many tubercles and flaps of skin, and a "horn" on its long and tubular snout. Three barbels occur on the chin and four additional filamentous barbels at the upper jaw, which is neither hooked nor notched.

The mata mata's brown or black, oblong carapace can measure up to 45 cm (18 in) at adult age. The full adult weight is 15 kg (33 lb). The mata mata's plastron is reduced, narrowed, hingeless, shortened towards the front, and deeply notched at the rear with narrow bridges. These may be meant to allow the turtle to resemble a piece of bark, camouflaging it from possible predators. The plastron and bridges are cream to yellow or brown.

The head, neck, tail, and limbs are grayish brown on adults. The neck is longer than the vertebra under its carapace and is fringed with small skin flaps along both sides. Hatchlings show a pink to reddish tinge in the underside edge of their carapaces and plastrons that gradually disappear as they grow.

Each forefoot has five webbed claws. Males have concave plastrons and longer, thicker tails than females.

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