Orinoco Matamata
Chelus orinocensis Vargas-Ramírez, Caballero, Morales-Betancourt, Lasso, Amaya, Martînez, Silva-Viana, Vogt, Pires-Farias, Hrbek, Campbell & Fritz, 2020
Status not recordedturtles and tortoises
The orinoco matamata (Chelus orinocensis) is a species in the family Chelidae, order Testudines.
No freely licensed photo yet
Quick facts about the orinoco matamata
- Weight
- Not recorded
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Young per litter or clutch
- Not recorded
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1
- Reproduction
- Eggs
- Lifestyle
- Aquatic
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the orinoco matamata live?
Not recorded
Is the orinoco matamata endangered?
No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.
How is the orinoco matamata classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classReptilia
- orderTestudines
- familyChelidae
- genusChelus
- SpeciesChelus orinocensis Vargas-Ramírez, Caballero, Morales-Betancourt, Lasso, Amaya, Martînez, Silva-Viana, Vogt, Pires-Farias, Hrbek, Campbell & Fritz, 2020
Synonyms Chelus orinocoensis
Other names and names in other languages (13)
- Orinoco mata-mataEnglish
- Orinoco matamatamata-mata do OrinocoEnglish
- Orinoco-FrynseskildpaddeDanish
- Orinoko-MatamataGerman
- caripatúaSpanish
- Marmara de l'OrénoqueFrench
- 오리노코 마타마타Korean
- mata-mata do OrinocoPortuguese
- “Atzapani” (used by Sikuani indigenous group in the Orinoco region)root
- 奧利諾科瑪塔龜Chinese
- Orinoko-FransenschildkröteGerman
- matamata del OrinocoSpanish
- matamata orinocenceSpanish
Relatives of the orinoco matamata
Other species in the same genus Chelus.
CompareOrinoco Matamata vs Amazon mata mataOrinoco Matamata vs Chelus colombianusOrinoco Matamata vs Chelus lewisi
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
What kind of animal is the orinoco matamata?
The orinoco matamata (Chelus orinocensis) belongs to the family Chelidae in the order Testudines.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits · CC BY 4.0 · v1
Oliveira, B.F., São-Pedro, V.A., Santos-Barrera, G., Penone, C. & Costa, G.C. (2017) AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits. Scientific Data 4: 170123. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.123. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.4644424.v5 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Shirey, V., Larsen, E., Doherty, A. et al. (2022) LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits. Scientific Data 9: 382. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01473-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.19874602.v1 - Northwestern European arthropod life histories and ecological traits (raw datasets) · CC BY 4.0 · 2024-12-17
Logghe, G., Batsleer, F., Maes, D. et al. (2025) An in-depth dataset of northwestern European arthropod life histories and ecological traits. Biodiversity Data Journal 13: e146785. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.13.e146785. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13379714 - ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles · CC BY 4.0 · v1-2
Oskyrko, O., Mi, C., Meiri, S. et al. (2024) ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data 11: 243. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03079-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24572683.v4 - Sharkipedia: a curated open access database of shark and ray life history traits · CC BY 4.0 · 1.0-2022-06-17
Mull, C.G., Pacoureau, N., Pardo, S.A. et al. (2022) Sharkipedia: a curated open access database of shark and ray life history traits and abundance time-series. Scientific Data 9: 559. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01655-1. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6656525 - SquamBase 1.0 - a dataset of squamate species traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0-dryad-v5
Meiri, S. (2024) SquamBase - a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography 33(4): e13812. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13812. Data: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.76hdr7t3b - TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe · CC BY 4.0 · 2.0
Chauvier, Y., Adde, A., Bergamini, A. et al. (2025) TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15063844 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
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CreatureData. (2026). Orinoco Matamata (Chelus orinocensis). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/orinoco-matamata
“Orinoco Matamata (Chelus orinocensis).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/orinoco-matamata.
@misc{orinoco_matamata_2026,
title = {Orinoco Matamata (Chelus orinocensis)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/orinoco-matamata},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}