Yellow-spotted river turtle

Amazing fact

The yellow-spotted river turtle bends its neck sideways to tuck its head under the edge of its shell.

Rosamond Gifford Zoo

Yellow-spotted river turtle in its habitat (illustration)

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An illustration based on the real animal.

A little discovery to share.

The yellow-spotted river turtle bends its neck sideways to tuck its head under the edge of its shell.

SourceRosamond Gifford Zoo — Yellow-Spotted River Turtle

THE REAL WORLD

The real Yellow-spotted river turtle

Scientific name: Podocnemis unifilis
Japanese name: モンキヨコクビガメ
Group: Amphibians and reptiles

Class: Reptilia
Order: Testudines
Family: Podocnemididae
Genus: Podocnemis

Facts about the real animal.

It lives in northern and northwestern South America.

鳥羽水族館 — モンキヨコクビガメ

Young ones have eye-catching yellow spots on the head.

鳥羽水族館 — モンキヨコクビガメ

The spots fade as the turtle grows, but males keep a little of them.

鳥羽水族館 — モンキヨコクビガメ

How the Yellow-spotted river turtle lives

It is especially active in mid-morning and in the afternoon. It eats plants that have fallen into the water. In the rainy season, it also eats land plants submerged by flooding. It rarely comes onto land except to bask or lay eggs.

Lincoln Park Zoo 京都市動物園

Basic data

Range: Northern to northwestern South America

鳥羽水族館

Where the Yellow-spotted river turtle has been recorded

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

Where it livesCentral and South America Rivers 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

日本語: モンキヨコクビガメ
简体中文: 黄头侧颈龟
繁體中文: 黃頭側頸龜
Español: Terecay
Français: Podocnémide de Cayenne
Deutsch: Terekay-Schienenschildkröte
Português (Brasil): Tracajá
Italiano: Tracajá
العربية: طفاشة صفراء النقط
Русский: Терекай

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

Sources and how we check

鳥羽水族館 — モンキヨコクビガメChecked: 2026-11-04
京都市動物園 — モンキヨコクビガメ（展示休止中）Checked: 2026-11-07
Lincoln Park Zoo — Yellow-spotted Amazon River TurtleChecked: 2026-11-07
Rosamond Gifford Zoo — Yellow-Spotted River TurtleChecked: 2026-11-07

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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