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Water Turtles

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Water Turtles WATER TURTLES Range Bog Turtle Bog Turtle • North America’s smallest turtle (3” to 4.5”); NC’s rarest • Have noticeable bright orange, yellow or red blotch on each side of face • Live in isolated spring-fed fen, sphagnum bogs, marshy meadows and wet pastures • Eat beetles, insect larvae, snails, seeds and millipedes • Females mature from 5-8 years and mate from May to Yellow-bellied Slider June Range • Deposit 2-6 eggs from June to July which hatch after 42 -56 days of incubation • Placed on NC’s threatened list in 1989 ENDANGERED 1 Yellow-bellied Slider • Yellow patch on side of head – on females and juveniles • 5 to 8 inches • Underside of shell is yellow • Males smaller than females with longer, thicker tail and long fingernails • Juveniles eat more carnivorous diet Redbelly Turtle • Adults are omnivores – feeding = underwater • Males mature between 3-5 yrs • 5-7 year old females lay 4 to 23 eggs from May to July • Eggs incubate 2-2.5 months and hatch between July- September • Help control invertebrate and vegetation populations • Live in fresh water Range Red Belly Turtle • 10-15” in length • Like deep water • Eat both plants and animals-insect larvae, crayfish, worms and tadpoles • Active from May thru October Snapping Turtle • Females lay 10-12 eggs in June-July which hatch Range sometime in late summer. • Young sometimes winter over in the nest until spring • Like to bask in the sun 2 Snapping Turtle • 8-14 inches weighing from 10 to 50 lbs • Large head, small plastron, long tail & strong limbs • Males larger than females Range • Prefer to stay in the water where they are passive Common Musk Turtle • Will lunge and bite at enemies, if on dry land • Produce a musk • Eat both meat and vegetation Common Musk Turtle • 2 to 4.5” • Small plastron with single hinge • Also called the “stinkpot” turtle b/c of its ability to secrete a smelly musk from two glands on each side of its body Hatchlings • Snout is projected slightly and eyes are yellow or white Painted Turtle • Has barbels on both the chin and the throat • Prefer lakes, ponds and quiet streams – dwell on bottom Range • Males have thick tales with sharp and horny end • Due to mobile body shape, can be found 6’ up a tree • Injured from fishing and boat propellers 3 Painted Turtle • 4-7” in length • Most widespread turtle in North America • Live in ponds, lakes, marshes and slow-moving rivers with soft muddy bottoms • Spends most of the time in the water but will sun itself on logs or rocks and sometimes in large groups Spotted Turtle Range • Omnivores – young mostly eat meat but adults eat both meat and vegetation • Females lay 5-10 eggs which hatch in 10-11 weeks • Can survive w/o oxygen at 37.4 F for up to 5 months which is longer than any other air-breathing invetebrate Spotted Turtle • 3.5 to 4.5” • Secretive • Semi-aquatic with yellow spots on a smooth carapace • Also have orange and yellow spots on head, neck and limbs • Prefer shallow, well-vegetated wetlands such as marshes, wet pastures, bogs, fens and swamps Striped Mud Turtle • Reach sexual maturity between 7-10 years; can live to 30 years • Usually HBC when traveling between wetlands • World Conservations Union lists as threatened Range 4 Striped Mud Turtle Range • 3-4” in length • Have large plastron with two moveable hinges • Males have thick tail • Found in canals, ponds, lakes, cypress swamps but not Stripeneck Musk in swift moving water Turtle • Nest from March thru October and usually build nest near the shoreline in sand piles or decaying vegetation • Young hatch in 3-4 months and are quarter size • Eat plants, small aquatic animals and carrion • Given the name “cowdung cooter” b/c will eat manure Stripedneck Musk Turtle • 3 to 4.5” • Many dark stripes lining head and neck • Two barbels on the chin • Are diurnal and do most of feeding in the Eastern Mud Turtle morning Range • Found in rivers and streams • Omnivorous preferring snails and insects • Listed as special concern in North Carolina 5 Eastern Mud Turtle • 3-4” in length • Is semi-aquatic so spends a lot of time on land • Carapace is is keeless (lacks any pattern) and can be yellowish to Photo © Jim Harding brownish Spiny Softshell Turtle • Plastron is large with two moveable hinges Range • Eyes are yellow with dark clouding • Eat aquatic plants and organisms • Live in shallow streams, rivers, lakes, ponds and marshes • The male has a longer tail with prominent claw at the tip and two small horny patches on the inner surface of each hind leg. Spiny Shoftshell Turtle 6 wks • Has rubbery, skin-covered shell with flexible edges that lacks scutes • Nose is long and pig-like • 5-19” in length • Live in rivers, lakes or reservoir with sand or mud bottom and little vegetation Diamondback Terrapin • Bask on logs or banks and will bury themselves in the sand or mud • Very fast swimmers and agile on land • Females lay 4-38 hard-shelled eggs in June that hatch in August or September • Eat crayfish, tadpoles, insects and occasional small fish Range 6 Diamondback Terrapin • 4-9” in length • Have concentric ridges (pyramids) on carapace and large back feet • Lives in coastal marshes • Eats fish, crustaceans, mollusks and insects • Solitary except to mate; Males=3 yrs, Females=6 yrs River Cooter • Females only breed every 4 yrs or so Range • Lay 4-18 eggs in the spring that hatch after 60-100 days • Can adjust their water needs by secreting salt from their tear ducts when their systems becomes too salty SPECIAL CONCERN River Cooter • 9-13” in length • Young cooters have a characteristic “C” on the 2 nd side scute but on older cooters this is often not visible • Found mainly in rivers and large streams • Like to bask on logs and rocks • Very skiddish and hard to approach Florida Cooter • Powerful swimmers Range • Females are larger than males • Females lay around 20 eggs in May to June which hatch in August or September (90-100 days) • Herbivorous 7 Florida Cooter • 9-13” in length • Look very similar to the River Cooter and Redbelly Turtle • Has a rounded chin • Inhabit wetlands, marshes, ponds and other still waters • Like to bask on logs and rocks Chicken Turtle • Herbivorous Range • Females lay around 20 eggs that hatch in about 90 days Chicken Turtle • 4-6” in length • Has similar appearance to the painted turtle Green Sea Turtle • Netlike appearance to carapace • Long and striped neck with vertical stripes running down the back legs • Carapace is much longer than it is wide and is hingeless • Females larger than males and may nest anytime during the year Joseph MacKenzie, PA • May retain eggs for up to 6 months, if nesting conditions are not right • Inhabit freshwater with sluggish or still waterways • Males have long thickened tails • Wander long distances from water Range • Prefers tadpoles and crayfish but will eat plants 8 Green Sea Turtle • 36-48” in length and weighs 250-450 lbs • Actually colored brown; hatchlings are colored black • Inhabit salt water but will occasionally enter sounds and rivers during summer months • Like warm shallow water • Travel hundreds and thousands of miles to their own hatching grounds to mate and nest Atlantic hawksbill Sea Turtle • Females deposit from 110-115 eggs at night taking 2 hours to do so • Clutches are deposited very 2-4 years • Temperature of incubating eggs determines sex of hatchlings Range • Flesh is used in soups THREATENED Atlantic Hawksbill Sea Turtle • 30-35” in length weighing 95-165 lbs • Scutes on the carapace tend to overlap one another • Heads are tapered into a V-shape • Lateral and posterior area are serrated except in the old • Males have a long and thicker tail, bigger claws and concave plastron Range • Most commonly found in no more than 60 feet of sea Loggerhead Sea Turtle water where there are hard bottoms or reef habitats containing sponges • Mate every 2-3 years • Use of shell in trade and commerce has lead to decline ENDANGERED 9 Loggerhead Sea Turtles • Approximately 36” in length and weight 250 lbs • Named for their relatively large heads • Have callous-like traction scales beneath their flippers that allow them to “walk” on the ocean floor • Reach sexual maturity around 35 years of age • Mating occurs from Late March to Early June, eggs are laid between late April to early September and hatch between late June to mid-November Atlantic Ridley Sea Turtle • Females lay 3-5 nests in a single nesting season • Occupy 3 different ecosystems over the course of their lifetimes – terresterial zone, oceanic zone and the neritic zone (nearshore are) • Eat conchs and whelks and bottom dwelling invetebrates Range THREATENED Atlantic Ridley Sea Turtle • Also known as Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle • 23-27.5” weighing from 80-100 lbs • Smallest turtle in the Atlantic ocean • Almost circular shell • Males have a longer tail and more concave plastron • Inhabit shallow water and high saline sounds • Nest in 1-2 year cycles and lay 1-3 clutches per cycle • Females lay eggs between April and mid-August on days when it is cloudy, Leatherback Sea Turtle relatively cool and a strong northern wind is blowing Hatchling • Young hatch after 50-70 days, emerging just after dawn • Reach sexual maturity by 6 years of age Range • Eat crabs, fish, jellyfish, squid, snails, clams, starfish and some marine vegetation CONSIDERED MOST ENDANGERED 10 Leatherback Sea Turtle • 53-70” in length and weighs from 650-1200 lbs • Largest living turtle in the world • 7 longitudinal ridges are found along the carapace with 5 similar ridges on the plastron.
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