[5][10] While not territorial, its strong jaws have been recorded severely injuring a child's knee, and ribeirinhos often report them mutilating the fingers of adults.

[7] Less agile swimmers than other podocnemidid turtles, they are generally thought to not disperse across long distances; one 19-year-old male was captured in the same stream where he was first tagged as a hatchling.

[7] It is an opportunistic predator, usually crawling around the bottom of water bodies searching for mollusks, fish, insects, and even scavenged carrion from other reptiles and mammals.

[12] Adults have been observed sitting immobile underwater with their jaws open, possibly trying to catch prey with a sit-and-wait approach also seen in alligator snapping turtles.

[5] Unlike other members of its group which lay their eggs on sandy beaches, the Big-headed Amazon River turtle prefers concealed nests.

This may no longer be reflective of the level of threat against this species, as there has been habitat degradation through river contamination by mining activities and pesticides, deforestation, and the construction of hydroelectricity infrastructure.