All printables
Mary River Turtle — printable fact sheet
Free to print or save as PDF. Great for classrooms, homeschooling, and young explorers.
Creature Atlas
Animal Fact Sheet
Name: ____________________
Date: ____________________
Mary River Turtle
Elusor macrurus
Elusor macrurus is confined to a single river system in Queensland, and it has two claims to fame. The first is respiratory: it has specialised gill-like structures in the cloaca that extract dissolved oxygen from water, so the turtle can remain submerged for up to 72 hours with…
Did you know?
- The Mary River Turtle was only scientifically described in 1994, despite being kept as a pet for decades prior, and is the sole species in its genus.
- The Mary River turtle ranked in the top 30 of the Zoological Society of London's EDGE reptile list in 2018, which is what launched the punk-turtle publicity. Because the species matures at around 25 years and most surviving adults are decades old, the population can look healthy while producing almost no recruits. A proposed dam at Traveston Crossing that would have flooded its habitat was rejected by the Australian government in 2009, largely because of this turtle.
What I learned
Draw the mary river turtle
© Creature Atlas · www.creatureatlas.com · Free for classroom & personal use
Want the whole set?
Get printable fact-sheet packs, coloring pages, and classroom worksheet bundles for dozens of animals — ready to download and print.
Browse printable packsGet a free printable each week
Join the newsletter for a new Creature of the Week + printables.