Monday, May 4, 2009

Turtles in Charleston





Turtles in Charleston

We found two types of turtles on our Herpetology field trips. The first was a small musk turtle, Sternotherus odoratus, from the Donnelly Wildlife Management Area. It had two light lines on its head, and a small plastron for its body. Also, when we held it, it released a musky odor. On another field trip we caught two yellow belly sliders, Trachemys scripta, and saw several others. The Trachemys scripta was easily identified by the yellow patch behind its eye, the narrow yellow stripes on its forelegs, stripped “pants”, and yellow lines on its carapace. The Trachemys scripta were caught in a neighborhood pond and were the only turtle that we saw. The two turtles were measured and determined to be females.

Kimberlee Lisicki

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