Natural History of the Spotted Turtle (Clemmys guttata)

    A cool herp I encountered is the Spotted Turtle (Clemmys guttata) during spring break on 3/4/2023. Spotted Turtles are generally very small (carapace is usually between 3-5 inches). They are smooth and black with several yellow, and sometimes a few orange, spots on their shells, heads, and limbs. Each individual has a unique spot pattern. This was a very lucky day because Spotted Turtles are considered endangered by the IUCN Red List. Due to this, I won't share their exact location. I'd never seen these in the wild before this encounter!

    This was particularly exciting because there were several individuals in this locality. I spotted (no pun intended) about 17 individuals in one day of various life stages. This population was inhabiting a very random pocosin, which is a freshwater wetland area surrounded by evergreen trees and shrubs. Spotted Turtles usually inhabit swamps, marshes, woodland streams, and wet pastures, so this made sense. They tend to avoid deep, open water. I noticed that they were mostly found around areas with lots of aquatic vegetation and sticks. Spotted Turtles are most active during early spring, so this was the ideal time to find them! 🐢🌞

    I was stoked to find a juvenile. This means that the population is doing well enough to be reproducing. This individual is likely around 2 years old- it's far too small to be an adult, but not as small as a neonate hatchling. Since it's so young, this individual could not be reliably sexed. Like many other turtle species, juveniles tend to resemble tiny versions of adult females. A sexually mature female would have a flat plastron, short and thin tails with the cloaca close to the body, and yellow to orange irises. In contrast, males would have concave plastrons, longer and thicker tails with the cloaca further away to house their penis, and dark brown irises. 

I love that little face...

    This juvenile turtle was very shy at first but ended up having a sassy attitude. I found it casually swimming just under the surface of the water, as it couldn't see me from there. Similarly, many of the adults were also actively hunting in the water. However, basking individuals would spot me from several feet away and retreat to the underwater leaf litter. This juvenile had a chunk missing from one of the marginal scutes, and so did many of the adults. Theoretically, this could be because most individuals had orange spots on the sides of their heads and on the rear end of their carapace, which could be confusing to a bird or other predator.

Check out the chunk missing from this kid's scute!

    Overall, I'm super grateful to have had this experience and wish it was more commonplace to see Clemmys guttata in the wild. During and after this encounter, it was bittersweet. Although it was thrilling to find a seemingly persistent population, it was emotionally difficult to consider that they may not be around much longer due to anthropogenic faults such as pollution, vehicular mortalities, habitat destruction, and poaching.