What is the difference between the temple turtle and the Chinese pond turtle? An introduction to the key points for telling the two apart

The temple turtle generally refers to the yellow-headed temple turtle, which is an internationally endangered species and a Class II nationally protected animal in China. Its head is black, with irregular yellow horizontal stripes on the sides and around the eye sockets. The carapace is black, and the turtle as a whole is oval in shape. The Chinese pond turtle, by contrast, has a relatively flat carapace with three longitudinal keels. The plastron is brownish yellow, and each scute has large dark brown patches. The sides of the head and the throat have yellow stripes and yellow spots edged in dark color, extending backward to the neck.

I. Introduction to the temple turtle

1. Habits

The temple turtle lives in rivers and streams and can survive in seawater for short periods, but it also has somewhat terrestrial habits. The temple turtle's native environment is close to a tropical climate with higher temperatures and a very short dormancy period, so it cannot adapt to the cold climate of northern China. Friends outside Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Yunnan and southern Fujian are advised to keep it with supplemental heating. A few examples in places such as Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Hunan, Guizhou, Sichuan and Jiangxi show that the temple turtle can survive under the local climate, but its growth rate is greatly affected.

2. Distribution

The temple turtle is a large turtle species endemic to Southeast Asia (Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam) and other places.

3. Food

The temple turtle, like most aquatic turtles, is omnivorous, but unlike other aquatic turtles it prefers plant-based food, so in normal feeding it is enough to make green leafy vegetables the staple diet and supplement it with fruits as secondary food. During the rapid growth period of juvenile turtles, fish and shrimp foods and compound feed can be given to supplement nutrition.