One of the 41 turtles and tortoises on WAnimals
Reptiles · Testudines · Emydidae
Blanding's Turtle
Emydoidea blandingii
It faces a very high risk of extinction in the wild in the near future. See full glossary
Blanding's turtle is a wetland turtle with a bright yellow throat and chin and a domed shell. It can live more than eighty years and does not breed until it is past fifteen or twenty, a pace so slow that the loss of a few adults can doom a population. It also shows an uncommon biological phenomenon.
Weight
750 g – 1.4 kg
Size
18 cm – 27 cm
Lifespan
80 years
Diet
Omnivore
Combines animal and plant food depending on availability.
Activity
Diurnal
Active mainly during the day.
Social structure
Solitary
Lives and hunts alone, joining others only to breed.
Sighting difficulty
Hard
Fun facts
- It barely ages: females over seventy lay as many eggs, and of as good quality, as those of thirty, and their chance of dying does not rise with age, a phenomenon called negligible senescence that is studied in biogerontology.
- It does not breed until it is past fifteen or twenty, so an adult female killed on the road represents the loss of decades of future breeding and is not made up for by more nests.
- It travels considerable distances overland between wetlands, sometimes more than a kilometre, and that habit makes it one of the most frequently road-killed turtles in North America.
Life cycle & biology
- Skeleton type
- Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton with a shell (reptile)
- Habitat & environment
- Marshes, temporary pools, wet meadows and shallow lakes of north-eastern North America
- Sexual maturity
- 17.8 years
- Gestation / incubation
- 75 days of incubation
- Litter / clutch size
- 8
Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emydoidea_blandingii
Where to watch it
Parques y spots de buceo donde se ha documentado esta especie — se muestran 13 de 14 documentados.
Related species
Other species in the catalogue with the most in common with Blanding's Turtle — same habitat, park, country, tags or family.
Painted Turtle
Chrysemys picta
Northern Map Turtle
Graptemys geographica
Pond Slider
Trachemys scripta
Eastern Box Turtle
Terrapene carolina
Diamondback Terrapin
Malaclemys terrapin
Least ConcernCommon Snapping Turtle
Chelydra serpentina
How to help
The blanding's turtle is classified as endangered. Organizations such as UICN, WWF y Wildlife Conservation Society work specifically on its conservation and that of its habitat; looking into their programs is a good starting point if you want to get involved.
It's documented in 10 real protected areas — part of why protecting these places matters for its conservation.
Keep exploring
Based on what we already know about blanding's turtle.
Comments
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