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Photograph of a mata mata🦎

Photo: Wildlife Tours Peru, Christoph Meyer · CC BY-NC 4.0

SpeciesChelidae
Reptiles

🦎Mata mata

Chelus fimbriata (Schneider, 1783)

The mata mata, mata-mata, or matamata is a South American species of freshwater turtle found in the Amazon basin and river system of the eastern Guianas. It was formerly believed to also occur in the Orinoco basin, western Guianas and upper Rio Negro–Branco system, but in 2020 these populations were found to belong to a separate species, Chelus orinocensis. Subsequently, some authorities have modified the common name of Chelus fimbriata to Amazon mata mata. These two are the only extant species in the genus Chelus.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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Photos
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Measurements
3
vs you
≈ 1/14th of your weight
Conservation status
LCLeast concern

IUCN Red List assessment, 2026.

Population trendStable
Key measurements
Body mass
4.41 kg
Body length
not recorded
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
36 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the Mata mata

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
4.41 kg
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Maximum lifespan
36 years
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Volume l
4.4 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for Mata mata yet: body length, shoulder height, top speed, bite force.

Where it sits

Family tree

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. ›phylumChordata
  3. ›classTestudines
  4. ›familyChelidae
  5. ›genusChelus
  6. ›speciesChelus fimbriata
Full lineage
  1. orderTurtles & tortoises · Testudines
  2. suborderPleurodira
  3. familyChelidae
  4. genusChelus
All 12 branches ↓
  1. kingdomMetazoa
  2. phylumChordata
  3. subphylumCraniata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. superclassGnathostomata
  6. superclassSarcopterygii
  7. superclassTetrapoda
  8. orderSauria
  9. orderTurtles & tortoises · Testudines
  10. suborderPleurodira
  11. familyChelidae
  12. genusChelus
More

More about the Mata mata

In other languages
Matamata (pl), 마타마타거북 (ko), Matamata (fr), Chelus fimbriata (es), cafrangos teknős (hu), Chelus fimbriata (it) … and 22 more languages
More photos
Photograph of a mata mataChelus fimbriatus Flickr Dick CulbertPhotograph of a mata mata
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