About Turtles

Features

• Turtles are reptiles that live in or near ponds or streams. They can withdraw their head and feet into the hinged shell that they carry on their back. The lower shell is called the plastron and the upper shell is called the carapace. Turtles do not have teeth even though some do have a dangerous bite. They have a hooked beak-like snout with two nostrils and a mouth with a sharp boney strong jaw. Their yellow and black eyes have a lower eyelid that moves up to cover the whole eye. Their legs have bones, toes and claws. The front feet each have five claws and the back feet each have four claws.

The Facts

• Female turtles dig holes in the sand or soft ground near streams in which they deposit eggs with soft, rubbery shells. Since they do not guard their nests, the eggs sometimes get stolen by skunks and other small animals. Slider turtles do not lay their eggs in mud. Instead they travel to hard ground and wet it with bladder fluids to soften it enough to dig their nests. They are the most vulnerable to predators when they are newly hatched and before their shell hardens. Turtles that live primarily on land, such as box turtles and wood turtles eat fruits, berries, herbs, insects, snails and other small animals. Turtles that live mostly in the water eat smaller fish and insects. Turtles hiss when they are frightened as they disappear inside their shells.

Type

• Many different types of turtles live in North America. The most common variety of all is the mud turtle. Stinkpot musk turtles emit a bad smell when an enemy approaches. Snapping turtles are the largest turtles and tend to bury themselves in mud. Alligator snapping iurtles lurk in the water with their mouths open to lure small fish. The inside of their mouths are lined in white. They have a red moving piece of tissue, known as the "worm," that attracts the fish. Cooters and pond sliders are two species that only eat plants. Other kinds of turtles include painted turtles, spotted turtles, western pond turtles and sawbacks. Snapping turtles and soft shell turtles both will bite humans.

Size

• The smallest turtles, stinkpot musk turtles, mud turtles and spotted turtles grow to be three to four inches long. The largest North American turtle, the alligator snapping turtle, grows to 150 pounds. All the other turtles range from about five to 12 inches long.

Misconceptions

• Up to the 1960s small turtles were sold all over the United States in pet stores, along with little bowls that had a raised area for the pet to bask in the sun. The rest of the bowl held water for the turtle to swim. Then, to protect children from the salmonella that turtles sometimes carry, it became against the law to sell turtles as pets in this country. Turtle farms still raise the animals to ship abroad, usually to Asia, where they are considered delicacies. The farmers rinse the turtle eggs with a solution that kills any salmonella and are hoping to get the law reversed so that turtles can again be sold as pets.