Tuntong laut is one of 29 species of freshwater turtles in Indonesia. Their habitat is almost extinct because it is hunted and its eggs are smuggled out of the country.

The physical characteristics of this tortoise include three black lines on a male shell, and grayish brown on a female shell. But often also found tuntong the entire shell is black.

Male heads are white or gray with red stripes, while females are brown and striped red. That is why tuntong is also known by the name of the red forehead tortoise.



Habitat tuntong at the mouth of creeks or waters around mangrove forest with salinity 0-10 percent. Their activities are more frequent in the water, and only occasionally appear to the land for sunbathing or laying.

Once spawned, the female parent produces 12-22 grains in one nest. Shoots, buds, and mangrove fruit become their favorite food, besides shellfish.

Tuntong populations are spread along the coast of Sumatra and Kalimantan, including Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam to Thailand. In Sumatra, their populations can be found in Aceh Tamiang with the largest habitats located in Seruway, Bendahara and Banda Mulia Subdistricts.

But the population and the tuntong habitat are further eroded by hunting and environmental damage. In Aceh Tamiang it is estimated that there are only 200 nests, each containing seven to 27 eggs during the tunting spawning season.

The findings are based on the latest research by One Cita Lestari Indonesia Foundation in 2017. Local institutions concerned about tuntong conservation in Aceh Tamiang have installed a microchip on 75 tuntong to traverse other tuntong populations.

The condition is very worrying considering not all eggs can hatch and become tuntong adult. Moreover, Aceh Tamiang is considered as the last bastion for tuntong laut habitat in Indonesia. This was revealed based on a survey by One Cita Lestari Indonesia Foundation with environmental activists from Kalimantan, Riau and North Sumatra.

"In addition to lizards and wild pigs, humans become predators of sea tuntong eggs.

Tuntong has always been a rare and protected species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has even set tuntong as a critically endangered or critically endangered species

Meanwhile, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wildlife and Species (Cites) includes a thunderbolt in the Apendix II list. This species may be threatened with extinction if it continues to be traded without a firm setting.

Tuntong is also included in the list of 55 species of sea turtles and the world's most endangered turtle version of the Wildlife Conservation Society and Turtle Conservation Coalition. Protection against tuntong is also contained in the Minister of Forestry Regulation No. 57 of 2008. The Government stipulates tuntong as one of the types of animals that have a national priority for