r/TurtleFacts • u/wwwwolf 🐢 • Apr 28 '16

Article Turtles take surprisingly many shapes and forms. One of the weirdest-looking turtles is Cantor's Giant Softshell Turtle, who probably has to say "No, guys, I'm not a mole, literally and figuratively" many times a day.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantor%27s_giant_softshell_turtle
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u/wwwwolf 🐢 Apr 28 '16

Another very weird whimsical fact/observation: Pelochelys cantorii was named after Theodore Edward Cantor. Does he have any connection to Georg Cantor, the famous mathematician? Because, as I have already pointed out (hopefully), I have a very soft(shelled) spot for mathematical turtles who can also draw some approximations/interations of fractal curves, and Georg Cantor's work was kind of important on that field too. OMG it's all connected!!!1!1!!!1!

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u/Fishtails Apr 28 '16

I love his....excuse me... turtle neck.

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u/slaymoe Apr 29 '16

Fear me, I am pancake.

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u/HorrorMaster101 Apr 28 '16

Another unique looking turtle are the Matamata.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mata_mata

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u/Iamnotburgerking Apr 29 '16

Giant softshell turtles (this one, P. bibroni, and Chitra sp) may look weird but they are swift and deadly apex predators.

That small head? It's lined with a boltcutter-like beak and attached to a neck as long as the rest of the turtle, allowing the animal to shoot its head towards prey like a snake. In addition, when they bury themselves with only their heads visible, the small size of the head hides the 400 pound body.

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u/ihate_reddit May 11 '16

I like turtles

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u/SamCommander May 16 '16

That`s a very weird looking turtle for sure. Is the shell soft as well? How does it protect the turtle from predators?

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u/Iamnotburgerking Aug 19 '16

This turtle has no predators when fully grown.

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u/deboramarcella11 May 06 '16

it's good to see this post for turtle facts...it's glad to see this post here

http://www.fatin.ae/curtains/