What Animal Is Indigenous To South Carolina
The United States is home to more than turtle species than any other state in the world, almost 100 species, and subspecies. But those turtle species are not distributed evenly, and so about states won't e'er be home to the same turtle species, even if they are very close.
S Carolina is home to 16 turtle species. In this commodity I am going to take a closer await at each species and encompass a few basic things nigh them, things similar the appearance, lifespan, how big information technology can get, diet, where it lives, conservation status, and reproduction.
Quick list of the native turtles of Southward Carolina:
- Bog Turtle Glyptemys muhlenbergii
- Carolina Diamondback terrapin Malaclemys terrapin centrata
- Common Musk Turtle Sternotherus odoratus
- Common Snapping Turtle Chelydra serpentina serpentina
- Eastern Box Turtle Terrapene carolina carolina
- Eastern Craven Turtle Deirochelys reticularia reticularia
- Eastern Mud Turtle Kinosternon subrubrum subrubrum
- Eastern Painted Turtle Chrysemys picta picta
- Eastern River Cooter Pseudemys concinna concinna
- Florida Cooter Pseudemys floridana floridana
- Florida Softshell Turtle Apalone ferox
- Gopher Tortoise Gopherus polyphemus
- Gulf Coast Spiny Softshell Turtle Apalone spinifera aspera
- Striped Mud Turtle Kinosternon baurii
- Spotted Turtle Clemmys guttata
- Yellowbelly Slider Trachemys scripta scripta
Now allow'south take a closer expect at the native turtles of S Carolina.
The Native Turtles of South Carolina
Quick Notation: Well-nigh turtle subspecies are very similar, so besides some few differences in colour information technology's possible that everything else about them to be the same.
Quick Annotation: In this listing I am also going to tell you the conservation status of the species, pregnant how shut they are to extinction. I will give a more in-depth caption of this ranking works, at the stop of the article, simply until then I volition add a film that will permit y'all know the basics.
Bog Turtle (Glyptemys muhlenbergii)
Clarification: Bog Turtle'due south are usually colored entirely black or night chocolate-brown. The only exceptions are the two brightly colored spots on the head, which tin be yellow, orange, or carmine. And the patterns on the dorsum of the crush.
How long information technology tin live: Between 30 and 40 years.
How big it can get: The Bog Turtle is one of the smallest turtles in the The states, it only reaches sizes between iii and 4 inches.
Where information technology lives: Equally the name implies, Bog turtles tin be found in bogs and wet meadows.
Diet: They are omnivorous, which means that they swallow a big diverseness of meat, fish, insects, and vegetation.
Conservation Condition: Critical
Reproduction: Nesting occurs from tardily May until the eye of July, and the incubation period lasts between 80 and ninety days.
Carolina Diamondback Terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin centrata)
Description: The Carolina Diamondback Terrapin can be easily spotted due to its low-cal-colored peel, which can range in colour from white to grey. The skin is also covered with black spots and blobs. The beat is unremarkably brown and covered with a blackness design.
How long information technology tin can live: Between 25 and 35 years.
How large it can get: Males unremarkably reach sizes between 4 and six inches, females reach sizes betwixt 5 and viii inches.
Where information technology lives: Diamondback terrapins can usually be found near brackish waters, and in coastal salt marshes.
Diet: Diamondback terrapins are carnivores, so their diet is mostly fabricated out of meat, fish, insects, and other small animals.
Conservation Status: Vulnerable
Reproduction: Nesting season is betwixt April and July, the incubation period usually lasts between lxxx and xc days.
Common Musk Turtle (Sternotherus odoratus)
Description: The Common Musk Turtle has a very obviously advent with very consistent colors. The color of the beat and the skin is usually very similar and information technology tin usually be dark brown or black. The vanquish has ane distinct feature and that is a ridge that traverses the entire length of the vanquish. Another distinguishable feature of the Common Musk turtle can be establish on its caput in the grade of two lite-colored stripes.
How long it can alive: Betwixt 30 and 50 years.
How big it can get: Common Musk turtles are very small, they usually attain sizes betwixt 3 and 4.five inches.
Where it lives: Like nigh aquatic turtles, the musk turtle can exist found in all minds of slow-moving and still body waters. But in general, they adopt waters that have a soft bottom, like mud or sand.
Nutrition: Mutual Musk turtles are omnivorous and feed on pocket-sized aquatic and semi-aquatic animals, aquatic plants, and feces, and any other kind of fruit or vegetable that they can find.
Conservation Condition: To the lowest degree Concern
Reproduction: Nesting season usually starts in late May and lasts until August. The average incubation menses of the eggs is 75 days.
Common Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina)
Clarification: Common Snapping Turtles tin range in colour from brown to blackness. They normally accept very long legs, necks, and tails. And they have a pronounced beak-like mouth.
How long it can alive: Between 30 and 50 years.
How big information technology can get: Betwixt 12 and 15 inches, in rare cases, some of them tin achieve even 19 inches.
Where information technology lives: A habitat generalist, the common snapping turtle tin exist plant in almost any body of freshwater with a dingy lesser.
Diet: They are omnivorous, which ways that they swallow both meat and plants. When it comes to the meat they volition scavenge, or actively hunt their prey in the water.
Conservation Status: To the lowest degree Concern
Reproduction: Nesting season is May to July. Incubation usually lasts between 70 and 100 days.
Eastern Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina)
Description: The Eastern Box Turtles take a very dome-similar shaped crush that ranges in color from brown to black. Besides the shape of the shell, the other near recognizable element is the pattern of the shell and pare, the design of the Eastern Box turtles can vary from individual to individual only it tin can usually be described as a lot of spots or blobs, that are colored yellow, red or orangish.
How long it can live: Between l and 100 years.
How big it can get: Virtually Box turtles attain sizes betwixt 5 and 7 inches.
Where information technology lives: Dissimilar most turtles, Box turtles live on land instead of water. They can be usually be found across open woodlands as well as grasslands and meadows.
Diet: Box turtles are omnivorous, and so they volition consume anything that they can find, meat, insects, fruits, vegetables, and any kind of vegetation.
Conservation Status: Vulnerable
Reproduction: The nesting menses takes place between May and July. The incubation period for the eggs is between 70 and fourscore days.
Eastern Chicken Turtle (Deirochelys reticularia)
Description: The Eastern Chicken Turtle has a shell that is shaped similarly to an egg, compared to other turtles. The color of the vanquish is usually dark brown or blackness, and it has a relatively subtle pattern that information technology's unremarkably yellowish in color. The lower side of the trounce is usually yellow. The pare of the turtle is normally a nighttime colour and information technology'south covered with yellow stripes.
How long it tin live: Between 15 and 30 years.
How large it can go: Most females are slightly larger than males, merely overall chicken turtles attain sizes between 5 and ten inches.
Where it lives: Chicken turtles tin can be found in canals, marshes, cypress, ponds, and other bodies of even so or sluggish h2o. They are frequently constitute in the sandhills.
Diet: They are omnivorous, which ways that they volition eat meat, fish, snails, insects, besides every bit fruits, vegetables, and all kinds of vegetation.
Conservation Status: To the lowest degree Concern
Reproduction: Nesting season starts in early on spring, and ends in belatedly summertime. On average, the incubation catamenia of the eggs ranges from 75 to ninety days.
Eastern Mud Turtle (Kinosternon subrubrum)
Description: The Eastern Mud turtle has a very plain look, the upper function of the beat commonly lacks whatever pattern and the colour tin range from a night yellowish to blackness. The lower side of the carapace is besides very evidently, but it's ordinarily a footling lighter than the upper part. 1 of the few distinct features of the Eastern Mud Turtle is the stripes on the caput that can range in color from white to yellow.
How long information technology tin can live: Betwixt 30 and 50 years.
How big it can go: They commonly reach sizes between five and seven inches.
Where it lives: As the proper name implies Mud turtles prefer to stay in h2o bodies that have a soft bottom, equanimous of either sand or mud. So they can be usually establish in lakes, swamps, marshes, and rivers.
Diet: Mud turtles are omnivorous, which means that they will swallow meat, snails, fish, insects, as well as fruits, vegetables, and other kinds of vegetation.
Conservation Condition: Least Concern
Reproduction: The nesting flow starts in May, and ends effectually the end of July. The incubation period is longer than that of most turtles, lasting around 100 to 110 days.
Eastern Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta)
Clarification: The pare color of the Eastern Painted Turtle usually ranges from dark olive to black. The shell is usually the same color as the pare, simply the edges are ordinarily carmine, orangish, or yellowish. The lesser part of the shell will usually be colored yellowish. The skin of the Eastern Painted Turtle volition usually be covered with stripes, nearly the head they are usually yellow, and on the rest of the body, the color usually ranges from red to orange.
How long it can live: Between 20 and thirty years.
How big it tin can get: Most Painted turtles reach sizes between 5 and 7 inches.
Where it lives: All Painted turtles subspecies adopt to live in freshwater, and they can exist usually constitute in slow-moving rivers, ponds, and lakes.
Diet: Painted turtles are omnivorous, which ways that they will eat fruits, vegetables likewise as meat.
Conservation Status: Least Concern
Reproduction: Nesting season starts in March and ends in June. The amount of time it takes the eggs to hatch is around lxxx days.
Eastern River Cooter (Pseudemys concinna)
Clarification: The Eastern River Cooter has a wide shell and numerous stripes on the head, which is blunt and proportionately small compared to the shell. The upper vanquish is olive-dark-brown, brown, or nearly black, with numerous concentric yellow lines or markings. The lower beat is either apparently yellow or may have some faint grey-brown markings along the scutes. The skin is commonly olive to olive-brown and has numerous yellow lines.
How long information technology tin can alive: Between 20 and 40 years.
How large it can get: Nigh of them reach sizes between 8 and 12 inches, just it's not uncommon to find females that reach sizes bigger than that, sometimes fifty-fifty xv inches.
Where it lives: They by and large prefer water streams, simply they tin can also be institute in lakes, ponds, and manmade environments.
Diet: In full general they adopt fruits, vegetables, and other forms of vegetation over meat, only they can be occasionally seen eating insects and snails.
Conservation Status: Least Concern
Reproduction: The nesting period starts in May and ends in July. On average the incubation period for the eggs lasts between 80 and 100 days.
Florida Cooter (Pseudemys floridana)
Clarification: What distinguishes the Florida Cooter from almost other turtles is its flattened shape. Their carapace has a nighttime background with a yellow or orange pattern. The plastron has no markings, and there are hollow oval markings on the marginal scutes.
How long information technology can live: Between 20 and forty years.
How big it can go: About of them reach sizes betwixt eight and 12 inches, simply it'south not uncommon to find females that achieve sizes bigger than that, sometimes even 15 inches.
Where it lives: They generally prefer h2o streams, but they tin too be found in lakes, ponds, and manmade environments.
Nutrition: In general they prefer fruits, vegetables, and other forms of vegetation over meat, but they can be occasionally seen eating insects and snails.
Conservation Status: To the lowest degree Concern
Reproduction: The nesting menstruation starts in May and ends in July. On average, the incubation period for the eggs lasts between 80 and 100 days.
Florida Softshell Turtle (Apalone ferox)
Description: The Florida Smooth Softshell Turtle is a rather plain-looking softshell turtle. The crush has a few bumps on the upper office of the beat out. The color will normally range from olive-gray to dark brown. The color of the head and limbs too ranges in color from olive or gray to a higher place, and light gray or cream-colored below.
How long it tin can live: Between xx and 30 years.
How big information technology can get: Florida Softshell turtles are boilerplate-sized, in general, they reach sizes betwixt 10 and 12 inches.
Where it lives: They can be found in a lot of wearisome-moving or still body water, but in general they seem to prefer lakes.
Diet: Florida Softshell turtles are carnivorous, their diet mainly consists of snails and fish.
Conservation Status: Least Business organization
Reproduction: The nesting period starts in May and ends in July. On average the incubation menses for the eggs lasts betwixt 70 and fourscore days.
Gopher Tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus)
Description: The Gopher Tortoise is a rather plain-looking tortoise. The upper role of the crush is usually dark greyness or brown, while the lower part is usually yellow with a black pattern. The pare color is commonly dark greyness or brown, just like the upper office of the beat.
How long information technology tin can live: Between 40 and sixty years.
How big it can get: In general they reach sizes between ten and 15 inches.
Where it lives: Gopher tortoises live in burrows that they dig themselves. These burrows can exist extremely long and tin have multiple entrances.
Nutrition: They are mainly herbivorous creatures, and their diet mainly consists of grass, mushrooms, and berries.
Conservation Condition: Vulnerable
Reproduction: The nesting period starts in May and ends in July. On average the incubation catamenia for the eggs lasts around 80 days.
Gulf Coast Spiny Softshell Turtle (Apalone spinifera aspera)
Clarification: Like near softshell turtles the Gulf Coast Spiny Softshell Turtle has a very apartment appearance. The color of the trounce and skin is usually is a gray olive with multiple pocket-sized black spots. It also has bumpy projections beginning at the front border of the carapace and going partway downwardly the middle of its trounce. Located along the bottom edge of the carapace are three lines that follow the edge of the shell going back towards its' head.
How long it tin live: Between xl and 60 years.
How big it can get: In general males are considerably smaller than females. Males reach sizes betwixt 5 and 10 inches, while females accomplish sizes betwixt 9 and 20 inches.
Where information technology lives: Spiny Softshell turtles tin be constitute in whatever aquatic habitat: lakes, rivers, reservoirs, wetlands, and marshes.
Diet: They are carnivores, so they mainly eat small aquatic animals, snails, and insects.
Conservation Condition: To the lowest degree Concern
Reproduction: Nesting season starts in early on spring and ends during the summer. The incubation catamenia of the eggs is 80 days.
Striped Mud Turtle (Kinosternon baurii)
Description: The striped mud turtle is characterized by the three longitudinal stripes on its carapace, likewise as by the stripes on its head. Those stripes are usually a lighter color than the residual of the turtle, but in some cases, the departure in color is not very evident.
How long it can live: Between 15 and twenty years.
How big information technology can get: Striped Mud turtles are the smallest of all Mud turtles, only reaching sizes betwixt 3 and 5 inches.
Where it lives: Equally the proper name implies Mud turtles prefer to stay in h2o bodies that accept a soft lesser, composed of either sand or mud. So they tin can be usually found in lakes, swamps, marshes, and rivers.
Diet: Mud turtles are omnivorous, which ways that they will eat meat, snails, fish, insects, equally well as fruits, vegetables, and other kinds of vegetation.
Conservation Status: Least Business organization
Reproduction: The nesting period starts in May, and ends effectually the end of July. The incubation period is longer than that of most turtles, lasting around 100 to 110 days.
Spotted Turtle (Clemmys guttata)
Description: The Spotted Turtle has a blackness upper office of the shell that is covered with yellowish, orangish, or ruby-red spots. The lower part of the shell is unremarkably xanthous, orange, or ruddy with a black pattern. The upper side of the skin is usually black and covered with spots only like the upper function of the shell, while the lower part of the skin is colored just like the underside of the shell, xanthous, orange, or crimson.
How long it can live: Between 100 and 150 years.
How big it can get: Spotted turtles are 1 of the smallest turtle species in the United states, commonly, it only reaches sizes between 3 and four inches.
Where it lives: In general Spotted turtles can be found in marshes, wet meadows, swamps, bogs, and shallow borders of ponds, lakes, and streams.
Diet: Spotted turtles are omnivorous. They feed primarily on aquatic vegetation and invertebrates, but will besides swallow invertebrates.
Conservation Status: Endangered
Reproduction: The nesting flow starts in May and ends in July. On average the incubation catamenia for the eggs lasts between 80 and 90 days.
Yellow Abdomen Slider (Trachemys scripta scripta)
Clarification: The Yellow Belly Slider has a nighttime-colored upper function of the shell that doesn't accept whatsoever distinct blueprint or whatever other type of coloration. The lower part of the trounce is colored yellow, hence the name, and has dissimilar patterns of blackness spots on information technology. The color of the pare is ordinarily blackness, and it has yellow stripes that cover it.
How long it can live: Between fifty to 100 years.
How big it tin get: In general most Yellow Belly Sliders reach sizes between eight and 12 inches.
Where it lives: Yellow Belly Sliders are often found in wearisome-moving streams, creeks, lakes, ponds, and marshes.
Diet: In general they are omnivores, just equally juveniles, they tend to eat exclusively meat.
Conservation Status: Least Concern
Reproduction: Nesting flavour starts in early leap, and ends in late summer. On average, the incubation menstruation of the eggs ranges from 70 to xc days.
The Conservation Status
The conservation status of a species shows how close a species is to extinction. When a species gets its status there are a lot of factors taken into consideration, not but the number of individuals still leaving.
Even if at the moment there are a lot of individuals of a species, at that place can be some changes in their surroundings that volition drastically bear on the species. For example, the plastic in the water is profoundly impacting sea turtles in a negative way.
In that location are a lot of systems that rail the conservation status of a species, only the most well-known and used is the one I used in this article, the IUCN Ruby Listing of Threatened Species. With this organization species are classified into nine groups fix through criteria such as charge per unit of turn down, population size, area of geographic distribution, and caste of population and distribution fragmentation. Out of the nine classifications, two of them basically mean that at that place is not plenty data on the species, so you will usually run across only seven possible statuses instead of nine.
Here is a list that explains what every status means:
- Extinct (EX) – No known living individuals
- Extinct in the wild (EW) – Known only to survive in captivity, or equally a naturalized population outside its historic range
- Critically endangered (CR) – Extremely loftier gamble of extinction in the wild
- Endangered (EN) – High take a chance of extinction in the wild
- Vulnerable (VU) – High risk of endangerment in the wild
- Most threatened (NT) – Likely to become endangered in the near future
- Least business concern (LC) – Lowest take chances; does not qualify for a higher risk category. Widespread and abundant taxa are included in this category.
- Data deficient (DD) – Not enough data to make an assessment of its risk of extinction
- Not evaluated (NE) – Has non yet been evaluated against the criteria.
Conflicting Species of South Carolina
The turtle species that I listed above are known every bit native species, but there can be other turtle species that live in that expanse that are non native, those species are called alien species.
Alien species are species that are not native to an area, but they all the same live at that place. Those species are usually brought to that region by humans. So a certain country might be home to 10 turtle species, but only 5 of them can exist native.
Alien species can exist added to an area to help with certain ecological bug, or past mistake. Turtles can practice a lot of good things to an expanse, they can keep certain insect populations under command, they tin can eat the overwhelming vegetation, of a lake, that got out of control, and there are a lot of other benign things that they tin do.
It's also possible that some unknowing person decided to release a few turtles into the wild. If those turtles manage to reproduce, they can easily first a new alien species in a new surface area. Overall I strongly suggest yous not do this, information technology can be very dangerous for the ecosystem and for the turtles every bit well. If you want to know more reasons why you lot shouldn't do this, you should ream my article: Can Pet Turtle Survive in the Wild? In this article, I explore all the possible outcomes of this situation.
South Carolina State Laws Regarding Turtles
Every state in the Us has unlike laws regarding native turtles and turtles in general. Nearly of those rules are mostly designed to protect turtles, so even if they seem a little restrictive, they are at that place for a skilful reason. Due south Carolina has its own gear up of laws that are dissimilar from any other country. Since a lot of those laws are about the native species I strongly propose you visit this interactive map that will bespeak yous to an article on this site that explains as just as possible the land laws in S Carolina regarding turtles, tortoises, and terrapins.
What to Do If You Find a Wild Native Turtle
What you tin can do if you notice a native wild turtle actually depends on your intentions. If you want to accept a few photos from a distance, you can definitely do that. If yous desire to touch the turtle you can commonly practice that, simply you have to take a few cautionary measures.
You lot have to remember that most wild fauna can comport bacteria, and since turtles spend a lot of fourth dimension in water those bacteria can exist a little more dangerous. And so if you touch a turtle make sure that you have some moisture wipes near you, if yous don't y'all should probably avoid touching it. But if you still want to, at to the lowest degree try not to put your hands near your face afterward you touched the turtle.
The most of import thing that you take to watch out for when interacting with a wild turtle is the turtle trying to bite yous. Mostly, turtles are peaceful creatures, but if they retrieve that they are in danger and they take no way of escaping, then they will definitely attempt to bite you. To preclude this make sure that you don't let information technology too close to your toes (if they are exposed), or to your fingers. If yous want to selection up a turtle you should catch it by the sides and proceed your hands above or below it, never in front end of its oral cavity.
If you lot want to feed the turtle, y'all can definitely do that, that would really be great, just make sure that you are feeding it the right thing, some foods can be very unsafe to turtles, to find out which food items are good and which are bad you can ever check out this article where you will as well find a few food items lists: What Do Turtles Swallow? ( Including Food Lists )
If yous desire to take the turtle home as a pet, you showtime have to brand sure that information technology's legal to exercise so. Most states, including South Carolina, have laws that protect wild native turtles. Y'all can check out the laws of South Carolina on this page: Turtle Land Laws.
If it's winter or shut to winter at that place is a run a risk that you can detect a hibernating turtle. When turtles hibernate, they enter a very profound sleep which allows them to conserve free energy. They generally practise this because during cold seasons there is trivial to no food available to them, and because there is no heat to allow them to heat up their body ( turtles are unable to produce their own body estrus). If during a common cold season you find a turtle that is hibernating, usually the best matter that yous tin do is to go out it to hide peacefully. Usually, turtles know how to cull a good spot to hibernate, so they are probably just fine. If y'all want to know more about turtle hibernation, I've written a more than in-depth commodity that covers the discipline, In this article, I cover why turtles hibernate, how hibernation takes place, how aquatic turtles hide, how land turtles hide, how sea turtles hibernate, what is brumation, and many other important and interesting things nearly hibernation: Do Turtles Hibernate?
Conclusion
This article should encompass every basic affair about the native turtles of South Carolina. But if you accept a question nearly something that you couldn't notice in the article you should go out a comment, I will do my all-time to answer information technology equally before long equally possible.
If you lot want to know more facts most turtles you can ever check out the category: Turtle Facts. Or if y'all are a turtle possessor and you want to know more about how to properly take intendance of a turtle or a tortoise y'all can always check the Intendance Guides Section or the Recommended Products Department.
Source: https://turtleowner.com/native-turtles-of-south-carolina-with-pictures/
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