{"id":7409,"date":"2024-10-24T13:49:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-24T17:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/turtlesurviva1.wpenginepowered.com\/news\/species-spotlight-furrowed-wood-turtle-copy\/"},"modified":"2025-08-12T14:30:52","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T18:30:52","slug":"species-spotlight-mexican-giant-musk-turtle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/turtlesurvival.org\/species-spotlight-mexican-giant-musk-turtle\/","title":{"rendered":"Species Spotlight: Mexican Giant Musk Turtle"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Meet another friend of the Hicatee, the Mexican Giant Musk Turtle!<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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This impressive turtle is found in southern Mexico and the northernmost reaches of Central America, including in Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras. Appropriately named, the Mexican Giant Musk Turtle is the largest of all the musk and mud turtles, growing to almost 15 inches in length. It features a large, boldly-patterned head with intimidating jaws, with black speckles on whitish skin. This striking species is made even more so by the three distinct keels, or ridges, running down the length of its carapace.<\/p>\n

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The Mexican Giant Musk Turtle faces threats such as habitat destruction, alteration, and collection for the pet and food trades. Our surveys, research, and community engagement with\u00a0the\u00a0Belize Foundation for Research and Environmental Education (BFREE)<\/mark><\/mark><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0to monitor the populations of this species and engage and inform the local community, and Eduardo Reyes Grajales in Chiapas, Mexico, help us learn more about this threatened species and how we can protect it and its habitats.<\/p>\n

Follow along throughout October to learn more about the turtles in Belize that need our help, and learn more about these turtles in the educational materials and webinars hosted by BFREE\u00a0her<\/mark><\/a>e!<\/a><\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n

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\n\u201cKeeley\u201d, the Mexican Giant Musk Turtle, is one of the friends from the\u00a0\u201cHicatee and Friends\u201d<\/mark><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0campaign for Hicatee Awareness Month.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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  • Pictured:<\/strong>\u00a0Mexican Giant Musk Turtle<\/li>\n
  • Countries of Origin:<\/strong>\u00a0Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico<\/li>\n
  • Habitat:\u00a0<\/strong>Wide variety of tropical still and slow-moving freshwater bodies, including lakes, oxbows, lagoons, ponds, reservoirs, swamps, marshes, creeks, floodplains, and rivers<\/li>\n
  • Wild Population:<\/strong>\u00a0Unknown<\/li>\n
  • IUCN Red List Status:<\/strong>\u00a0Near Threatened<\/li>\n
  • Threats:<\/strong>\u00a0Habitat destruction, alteration, and degradation; collection for the pet and food trades and local consumption<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Images by Eduardo Reyes Grajales.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Meet another friend of the Hicatee, the Mexican Giant Musk Turtle! This impressive turtle is found in southern Mexico and the northernmost reaches of Central America, including in Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras. Appropriately named, the Mexican Giant Musk Turtle is the largest of all the musk and mud turtles, growing to almost 15 inches in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7437,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[78],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-species-spotlights"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSpecies Spotlight: Mexican Giant Musk Turtle - Turtle Survival Alliance<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/turtlesurvival.org\/species-spotlight-mexican-giant-musk-turtle\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Species Spotlight: Mexican Giant Musk Turtle - Turtle Survival Alliance\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Meet another friend of the Hicatee, the Mexican Giant Musk Turtle! 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