Black Breasted Leaf Turtle
(Geoemyda spengleri)

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Chelonia
Family: Bataguridae
Genus: Geoemyda
Species: spengleri

These small turtles are native to Southern China and range throughout Vietnam and Cambodia. This is one of many species of turtles from this area of the world brought to increasingly low levels by over-harvesting for the pet trade as well as for the medicinal food markets. Each female typically lays only two eggs per year, which is another factor contributing to the low recruitment in the wild. Knoxville Zoological Gardens has successfully hatched this species three times and is considered a priority species for the Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA).

Buy a t-shirt to help the Reptile House