The Philippine Forest Turtle (Siebenrockiella leytensis) lives exclusively in Northern Palawan. The species thrives in pristine habitats undisturbed by people. They live within forests that are generally between 10 to 300 meters above sea level. Within these lowland forests, they can be found in places such as: slow flowing, muddy bottom streams, creeks, moderate sized rivers with clay banks and swamps (IUCN, n.d.).

In Northern Palawan, the turtles can be found within the areas of the Municipalities of Roxas, San Vincente, and Taytay, alongside the island of Dumaran and Puerto Princesa (Diesmos et al., 2012).

Currently, there is no exact number for the population of the Philippine Forest Turtle provided by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). However, most recent surveys from 2015-2018 show the population of the Philippine Forest Turtle per hectare, in undisturbed pristine habitats in Palawan. In those surveys, they only found about 78-90 Philippine Forest Turtles per hectare compared to last year’s survey where they found 188-206 turtles per hectare. This evidence clearly shows the species’ declining population (IUCN, n.d.).