Snake-necked turtle, Australian snake-necked turtle, Eastern snake-necked turtle, Stinker
The Eastern long-necked turtle (Chelodina longicollis) is a species of snake-necked turtle found in Australia. It lives in a wide variety of water bodies and is an opportunistic feeder. It is a side-necked turtle, meaning that it bends its head sideways into its shell rather than pulling it directly back.
The carapace of this species is generally black in color, though some may be brown. It is broad and flattened with a deep medial groove. The scutes are edged in black in those individuals with a lighter background color. The plastron is also very broad and is cream to yellow in color with sutures edged in black. The neck is long and narrow and reaches a length of approximately 60% of the carapace length. The neck has numerous small pointed tubercles and is grey to black in color dorsally, cream below, as is the narrow head. Females tend to grow to larger sizes and have deeper bodies.
The natural habitat of the Eastern long-necked turtle is a slow-moving water body. The species inhabit wetland and swampy areas as well as streams and rivers. The area of their distribution mainly includes south-eastern Australia, west of Adelaide to Victoria and New South Wales and north to the Fitzroy River of Queensland.
These animals can change their habitat if necessary, travelling long distances in search of a suitable habitat. The Eastern long-necked turtles are solitary animals and move independently, though sometimes many individuals can be found living in the same area. This turtle is cold-blooded, diurnal animal. Their activity depends on the external temperature. Thus, they are inactive in the early morning, basking in the sun to warm up and increase their body temperature. They are most active in the mid-morning and mid-afternoon, escaping from the sun to a shelter during the noon. The Eastern long-necked turtles use touching and release of pheromones as forms of communication.
The Eastern long-necked turtles are carnivorous animals, feeding upon fish, crustaceans, mollusks, amphibians, worms and insects.
These turtles have a polygynous mating system, where a male can mate with many females. The breeding season takes place during the autumn months, from September to October, while the nesting period is October-December. Their nesting sites are situated nearby water. Usually, the female lays 8-24 eggs, which have a form of ellipse and are hard-shelled. The eggs are incubated for 120-150 days, after which, between January and late April, the young hatch out. The newly hatched turtles are fully independent, receiving no parental care from their mother, who looks forward to breed again, if the conditions are favorable. It takes quite long the Eastern long-necked turtles to become sexually mature. Typically, males are mature at 7-8 years old, whereas female turtles reach maturity at 10-12 years old.
These turtles currently suffer from hunting by indigenous people of Australia, who feed upon their meat. They are also hunted by their natural predators such as invasive red foxes. And finally, the animals are threatened by environmental and climatic changes.
The exact number of their overall population is presently unknown, but the species is fairly widespread, found in large numbers throughout the area of their habitat. Eastern Long-Necked Turtle is not listed on the IUCN Red List and is thought to be a species of least concern.
Due to feeding upon aquatic organisms, the turtles control the numbers of these species’ populations throughout the area of their habitat.