1. Morphological characteristics

1. Body size: The Malaysian giant tortoise has a large body, weighing more than 50 kg, and the length of the carapace is 120 cm. The head is broad, the muzzle is sloping downward, and the nostrils and eyes are large.

2. Carapace: It is long oval, relatively flat, with concentric rings on each scutellum, and the rear edge is serrated.

3. Limbs: The limbs are flat and covered with scales. There are also webs between the toes and fingers, and the claws are very developed.

4. Color: The head and neck are dark gray-brown, the abdomen is light yellow or milky white, and there are no variegated spots.

Second, Living habits

1. Living environment: Malaysian giant tortoises are aquatic turtles and are highly dependent on water. They generally live in large freshwater bodies such as rivers. When the weather is good, they will bask on the shore and like to live in groups.

2. Eating habits: Malaysian giant tortoises are omnivores, generally preying on fish, shrimp and crabs. Likes to swallow food in water.

3. Living temperature: the suitable temperature is 25-30 ℃, when the water temperature is lower than 20 ℃, their activity will become smaller, and they enter hibernation below 17 ℃.

III. Distribution range

Malaysian giant tortoises mainly live in large rivers and lakes in Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra and Borneo. Also found in reservoirs and tributaries in Singapore. In the 1990s, there were also some Malaysian giant tortoises flowing into the coastal provinces of southern China.

Four. Conservation status

Included in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (IUCN 2000 ver 3.1) - Endangered (EN). Listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) - Appendix II.  

V. Reproduction

Malaysian giant tortoise females can lay eggs when they weigh 4000 grams. The spawning period is from May to October every year, and the eggs produced are oblong and weigh 46-72 grams.

Six. Differences between recent species

The morphological characteristics of the Malaysian giant tortoise and the Asian giant tortoise are very different. The Malaysian giant tortoise is huge and dark in color. The Asian giant tortoise, on the other hand, is much smaller, with a brighter tan color, obvious serrations on the back of the shell, and a beautiful radiating texture on the plastron.

The above is the introduction of the giant tortoise in Malaysia~ I believe you will have a new understanding of them after reading it. There are many other content on this site, you can pay attention to a wave~