European pond turtle
Amazing fact
The European pond turtle's belly shell has a flexible hinge.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
The European pond turtle's belly shell has a flexible hinge.
THE REAL WORLD
The real European pond turtle
- Scientific name
- Emys orbicularis
- Japanese name
- ヨーロッパヌマガメ
- Group
- Amphibians and reptiles
- Family
- Emydidae
- Genus
- Emys
A turtle with a very wide range, from central and southern Europe to western Asia and northwestern Africa.
How the European pond turtle lives
During the day, it stretches out on stones or banks and basks without moving. It turns its head sideways to bite prey, then tears it apart with sharp claws on its front legs. Adults live in small groups. In the cold season, it hibernates buried in mud and comes out in late spring.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity WebBasic data
- Range
- Central and southern Europe to western Asia, northwestern Africa, the Black Sea coast, and elsewhere
Where the European pond 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
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
- ヨーロッパヌマガメ
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 — ヨーロッパヌマガメChecked: 2026-11-04
- University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web — Emys orbicularisChecked: 2026-11-06
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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