Punk turtle? Green-haired turtle? I kid you not

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When I read about a turtle which has a variety of interesting names such as: green-haired turtle, punk turtle and bum-breathing turtle, I was intrigued. It’s also known as the Mary River turtle with the scientific name of Elusor macrurus. It’s a short-necked turtle endemic to the Mary River in south-east Queensland. It’s one of our largest turtles with males being larger than females, some reaching a length of around 50cm (20 in). An unusual feature is that it can absorb oxygen through the cloaca, a single opening where the genital, intestinal, and urinary tracts all come together. This allows them to stay underwater for up to three days at a time although they also come to the surface to breathe. The males have a very large paddle-like tail. The ‘green-haired’ and ‘punk’ names come for the fact that some specimens have growing strands of algae on their heads. I can’t find a ‘free-to-use’ photo where you can see green algae sprouting from its head but there are a lot of images online. The photo I’ve used is from: https://www.inaturalist.org/photos/71753055