[4] Amyda cartilaginea is found in Brunei, Indonesia (Bali, Java, Sumatra, and Kalimantan), Malaysia (Sabah, Sarawak), Singapore, and southern Thailand.

[8] Its carapace is oval in shape; on adult turtles its color ranges from a soft olive to green-brown.

Yellow dots, and the occasional black spot, can be found on the shell, but these too fade as the turtle gets older.

Its head typically displays yellow dots that sometimes appear to fuse together, creating elongated streaks.

[7] A trait that helps differentiate the Asiatic soft-shell turtle from other similar species is its noticeably elongated snout.

[8] Increased gas exchange, a result of an adaptation known as "pharyngeal breathing", allows the Asiatic soft-shell turtle to remain submerged in water for extended periods of time.

It can be found in many locations throughout Asia, specifically in the following countries: Brunei, Bangladesh, Borneo, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar,[7] Sabah,[9] Sarawak, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

[10] Amyda cartilaginea tends to favor wetlands; the Asiatic soft-shell can be found in marshes, swamps, and sizeable muddy rivers at lower elevations.

[citation needed] The Asiatic soft-shell is an omnivore, meaning it will feed off of plants and animals when given the chance.

It has the ability to stay under water for long periods of time because of the gill like structure it possesses.

[citation needed] The Asiatic soft-shell likes to eat a variety of foods, including crabs, fish, insects, worms, eggs, amphibians, crustaceans and even at times bird carcasses.

[11] When the Asiatic soft-shell can't find meat, it will choose to eat berries, nuts, and plant seeds.

Natural predators of the turtle's eggs are monitor lizards, crows, snakes, eagles, and wild pigs.

[22] Although the most obvious threats to Amyda cartilaginea are large animals, they can be infected by many small and microscopic freshwater organisms/parasites.

Known species parasitic to Amyda cartilaginea are, bacteria: Edwardsiella tarda and Aeromonas veronii; fungus: Saprolegnia and ectoparasitic worm: Pseudocalceostoma.

[23] Larger parasites to this turtle are leeches and nematodes species: Monhysterides jambiensis and Spiroxys sumatraensis.

The juvenile turtles that escape these early threats will most likely continue to grow and develop into sexually reproducing adults.

This is partially due to the fact that many Asiatic soft-shells are caught as a food source, the larger (and thus older) turtles being more desirable since they produce more meat.

The Asiatic softshell turtle is now on the IUCN Red List as "Vulnerable", meaning it is not yet extinct, but is at the risk of becoming so.

[29] Laws have been put in place to help slow down the trading of these turtles or even stop it completely to protect this species from extinction.

Since selling for human consumption is one of biggest markets these turtles are sold in, the laws put in place have made only a slight difference in the Asiatic soft-shell's population drop.