Greater Sydney Parklands

Meet the Eastern Snake-Necked Turtle

Reptiles are cold-blooded animals that have dry scaly skin, backbones and usually lay soft-shelled eggs on land. A turtle is a reptile.  

Long-necked turtle standing in shallow water
Cartoon illustration of brushtail possum with turtle eggs

As Percy is leaving, she notices something in the sand. It’s a collection of turtle eggs! She then notices in the dark two shiny eyes and two very pointy ears staring at the eggs too. It’s a fox preying on the turtle nest!  

'Oh no’, thinks Percy, ‘what can I do?’  She must create a distraction and try to get the fox away to protect the eggs but she also needs to be careful not to become dinner for this fox. As Percy is quickly planning what to do, Tass, the eastern snake-necked turtle, has wandered up out of the water to visit her eggs.   

Poor Tass, what should Percy do?? Suddenly, there is a bright light. It’s a Park Ranger roaming the park at night to make sure everything is secure. The torch light of the Ranger shines in the fox's eyes and scares it. The fox slinks away into the darkness to search for her next potential meal.   

‘Phew’, thinks Percy, ‘a narrow miss.’ Knowing that Tass and the turtle eggs are safe, Percy decides to go to sleep and finish her adventure knowing her friends are safe.  

 

What do you know about the Eastern Snake-Necked Turtle?

  • Eastern snake-necked turtles have a very long neck, like a snake.
  • They use their neck to strike fast when they’re hunting.
  • They surprise their prey and catch it quickly!  

 

Activities

Activity: Draw and label an Eastern Snake-Necked Turtle

What does an Eastern Snake-Necked Turtle look like?

  1. Look at the Eastern Snake-Neck Turtle diagram, use this as inspiration to draw your own turtle.  
     
  2. Use these words to label your drawing – shell, long neck, eyes, legs, webbed feet, mouth and scales

     
Cartoon illustration of turtle

  

 

Activity: Order the lifecycle of a turtle

Lifecycle of an Eastern Snake-Necked Turtle  

  1. Look at the images below and think about the correct order of the lifecycle.  
     
  2. Use these words to create your life cycle – adult turtle, eggs, hatchling and juvenile. You can also draw your own stages of the life cycle if you want.  

 

Life cycle of a turtle cartoon illustration

 

 

Activity: Play a Game of Predator Vs Prey – The Turtle and Fox Game

Play a game to reinforce the concept of predator Vs prey.  

  1. Have everyone sit in a circle and choose someone to be the turtle. The turtle sits in the middle of the circle guarding their nest of eggs either blindfolded or with their eyes closed. You can use balls or other objects as the eggs.  
     
  2. All the others in the circle are the foxes. Choose a fox to come prowling and try to steal the eggs from the turtle’s nest.  
     
  3. If the turtle hears any foxes coming, they point in the direction of the fox.  
     
  4. If the turtle points directly at a fox, they must go back to the circle.  
     
  5. If the fox is successful in stealing an egg, the fox then becomes the turtle.  
     
  6. Make the game more difficult by sending multiple foxes prowling at the same time.  

 

 

References

Image 1: Eastern Snake-Necked Turtle. Credit: John Wombey, CSIRO. 

Image 2: Cartoon illustration of brushtail possum and turtle eggs. Credit: Sam Crosby, Greater Sydney Parklands Education and Community Programs Team

Image 3: Cartoon illustration of eastern snake-necked turtle. Credit: Sam Crosby, Greater Sydney Parklands Education and Community Programs Team

Image 4: Cartoon illustration of turtle lifecycle. Credit: Sam Crosby, Greater Sydney Parklands Education and Community Programs Team