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Amphibians and reptiles

Malaysian giant turtle

Amazing fact

The Malaysian giant turtle has webbing between all its toes.

Naturalis Biodiversity Center
Malaysian giant turtle in its habitat (illustration)

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An illustration based on the real animal.

A little discovery to share.

The Malaysian giant turtle has webbing between all its toes.

SourceNaturalis Biodiversity Center — Orlitia borneensis

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THE REAL WORLD

The real Malaysian giant turtle

Scientific name
Orlitia borneensis
Japanese name
ボルネオカワガメ
Group
Amphibians and reptiles
Class
Reptilia
Order
Testudines
Family
Geoemydidae
Genus
Orlitia
Facts about the real animal.
01

It lives in places such as the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Borneo.

鳥羽水族館 — ボルネオカワガメ
02

It grows very large and moves about actively in the water.

鳥羽水族館 — ボルネオカワガメ
03

It eats both plants and animals, but leans strongly toward meat.

鳥羽水族館 — ボルネオカワガメ

How the Malaysian giant turtle lives

It lives without forming groups. Local people have reported that it nests in piles of debris. Its eggs are elongated, with brittle shells. Newly hatched young have very rough shells with strongly jagged rear edges.

Aquarium BerlinNaturalis Biodiversity CenterIUCN/SSC Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group

Basic data

Range
Malaysia and Indonesia
鳥羽水族館

Where the Malaysian giant turtle has been recorded

World map with dots where the Malaysian giant turtle has been recorded
Each dot marks a place with observations or specimens shared on GBIF. Some records are of animals that strayed or were brought by people, so the dots are not always where the animal lives.

Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF

Where it livesAsiaRivers and wetlands

Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.

Names around the world

简体中文
巨龟
繁體中文
巨龜

Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.

Sources and how we check

We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.

The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.

The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.

This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.

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