Philippine Pond Turtle

The Philippine Pond Turtle (Heosemys leytensis), also known as the Leyte Pond Turtle, is an extremely rare turtle species from the Philippines.

Three specimens were obtained before 1920 from a shipment of mixed turtles said to originate from Leyte Island in the Philippines. Around 1988 a fourth specimen was found in the possession of a villager in Taytay municipality in eastern Palawan, who claimed to have collected it from a local stream. Despite searches of both Leyte and Palawan, no further animals have been found.

The Philippine Pond Turtle is probably the world’s least-known and most enigmatic freshwater turtle species, it exerts great fascination for turtle hobbyists. Due to the inability to locate it in the wild, probable threats from habitat loss, and potential pressure from collectors, this turtle is listed as critically endangered.