What???? - February 2022 This is a Mata Mata Turtle. The following almost unbelievable description of this species is from Wikipedia: “The mata mata is a large, sedentary turtle with a large, triangular, flattened head with many tubercles and flaps of skin, and a "horn" on its long and tubular snout. Three barbels occur on the chin and four additional filamentous barbels at the upper jaw, which is neither hooked nor notched.” The Mata Mata is beautiful, in a weird, sci-fi monster sort of way. Basically they lie around all day in shallow water with their head right at the surface. With all those “tubercles and flaps of skin” and the other weird characteristics, they look like a large leaf floating on the surface of the water... until a nice bug or small fish happens by and they scarf down dinner. I was intent on getting an image of a swimming stingray when this thing stuck his snout out of a hole and started climbing up the rocks. Needless to say, I didn’t go back to the stingray. MWM
