The Chenhedong Nature Reserve, located in Lutian Town, Conghua District, Guangzhou, Guangdong, is an area with high vegetation coverage, relatively well-preserved ecological environment, and high biodiversity in Guangdong.

It is the first provincial nature reserve in Guangzhou and an important part of Guangzhou's "Northern Excellence" development strategy. The main ecosystem type is the subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest ecosystem. The area of ​​the reserve is approximately more than 7,000 square kilometers. , the forest coverage rate reached 94.69%.

The superior natural environment provides a place for many wild animals to survive. There are more than 180 species of vertebrate terrestrial wild animals identified in the reserve, 23 of which are national key species. ANIMAL CROSSING.

A strange turtle was discovered in Conghua, which turned out to be the golden turtle commonly known as folk

Chenhedong Nature Reserve is a place that can surprise people. In the past, people have successively discovered Chinese pangolins, Asian golden cats, and leopard cats here. and other rare wild animals.

Recently, new discoveries have been made in Chenhedong Nature Reserve. At first, an infrared camera set up in the reserve captured a strange-looking turtle-like creature, but because the images captured were blurry, it was impossible to identify what species it was.

In order to clarify the situation, the professional and technical team of the reserve quickly conducted in-depth field investigations, and finally made new discoveries in the dank jungle near the big rock wall.

The staff found a turtle with an orange back shell on the ground covered with fallen leaves. After identification, it was a semi-aquatic turtle, and its scientific name is the turtle. Among Chinese folk, it has a more famous name called "golden turtle".

After measuring, the staff found that the carapace of this golden turtle was about 11 centimeters long and 8 centimeters wide, making it relatively petite overall. Because of being stimulated by the outside world, this golden turtle retracted its head, tail and limbs into its shell.It's inside, so the overall look is like a turtle shell on the ground.

In Chenhedong Nature Reserve, this is the first time a golden turtle has been recorded. There have been no records of golden turtles before.

The whole body is small and unique, with twelve serrations on the shell

The golden tortoise is small and unique. The golden tortoise found in the Chenhedong Nature Reserve in Conghua has long teeth from its carapace. From a wide perspective, it should be an adult individual, they are about this big.

The body color of different individuals varies greatly, ranging from light yellow to dark brown, most of which are golden or orange. The one found in Chenhedong Nature Reserve is exactly orange. The head of the golden turtle is relatively small, but its eyes are large and protruding, so the whole appearance looks weird.

In addition, the tail of the golden turtle is also very short, and there are obvious differences between the male and female. The female turtle has a white or yellow stripe on the left and right sides of the neck behind the eyes, while the male has this characteristic. It is very inconspicuous and even invisible to the naked eye.

In addition to the strange appearance of the golden tortoise, the biggest feature of this species is its tortoise shell. The front and rear edges are serrated, with a total of twelve pieces. Therefore, the golden tortoise has another name, called "Twelve-sided turtle" ".

In fact, the golden turtle is a turtle with many aliases. For example, because its carapace is brown and black, it is also called the black-breasted leaf turtle. According to the shape of the carapace, in some areas, they are also called the black turtle. They are the Twelve-horned Turtle and the Maple Leaf Turtle.

In our country, golden turtles are national second-level protected animals. Their numbers are relatively rare and they are relatively rare in nature. It is mainly distributed in Hunan, Guangdong and Guangxi in my country, and is found in Vietnam abroad.

Growing in humid and humid areas, they will eat anything they catch

Golden turtles have relatively high requirements for the growing environment. They like dark and humid mountainous areas and are often found in mountainous areas. Near jungle streams at an altitude of about 700 meters, they are terrestrial or semi-aquatic animals, but they can also be found in streams.

Generally speaking, beetles are more likely to appear in forests with strong understory trees, abundant vines and bamboos, and relatively high canopy density.

The environment in the area where golden turtles were found in Conghua Chenhedong Nature Reserve is basically of this type. Golden turtles are poor swimmers and can only move around in some streams and cannot enter deep water areas.

The food habits of golden turtles are very diverse, and they will eat almost anything they catch. existIn daily life, their food targets include various insects, worms, as well as plant leaves and fruits. Due to size restrictions, although beetles have a wide range of diets, they eat very little and their appetite is not large.

In nature, beetles are generally active in the early morning and dusk, and hide in cool places during the day. The leaves under the woods and the gaps between rocks are places where they like to stay.

The appearance of golden turtles further proves the superiority of the ecological environment of Chenhedong Nature Reserve. Otherwise, this kind of species that is picky about its living place would not appear.

The golden tortoise family is still relatively thin, and there is only one animal in the entire genus. There used to be a relatively large number of them, but later they were captured by people and their habitats were destroyed, so the number of golden turtles dropped sharply.

In addition, because beetles have a gentle personality and are small in size, many predators in nature can easily handle them. This is one of the reasons for the decrease in the number of beetles.