Natural History: Yellow-Bellied Slider

 

I spotted this Yellow-Bellied Slider (Trachemys scripta) while walking through the Audubon Swamp Garden within the Magnolia Plantation and Gardens. This turtle is within the family Emydidae which are commonly known as the basking pond turtles. This picture is quite fitting because that is exactly what the turtle is doing. I could tell this was a Yellow-Bellied Slider due to its distinct yellow stripes/marks on the head and chin. Also, the very narrow yellow stripes on the forelimbs. Additionally, if you look at the marginal scutes there are smudged brown spots. I could not tell whether this turtle was male or female because it was in the middle of a pond. I had to zoom in quite a bit for this photo. I could not see whether the turtle had a long and thin tail indicating a male or a short and thick one indicating a female. The claws looked long from what I could tell (meaning male), but without comparing them to another Yellow-Bellied Slider it is unclear. Due to the size of the turtle and its shell, I would say it is at least a couple of years old. I'm guessing this turtle was around 9 inches, if not bigger. Most grow to about 6-12 inches depending on the sex. This was a particularly sunny day in early March and so the turtle, as I said before, was basking in the warm sun. Yellow-Bellied Sliders are ectothermic and therefore they need to use the sun's warmth to heat up their internal temperature. I saw many turtles exhibiting this same behavior while walking this trail. This particular area of Magnolia Gardens is the perfect habitat for turtles. There were multiple ponds, swampy areas, water-filled ditches, and boggy forests. This is perfect for Yellow-Bellied sliders because it is a semi-aquatic turtle that prefers freshwater. This species of turtle is mainly found within the Southeastern United States, and this particular turtle was found only 25 minutes away from the College of Charleston. It was interesting to observe this creature out in its natural habitat without disturbing its day. I also found the number of yellow-bellied sliders and other species to be quite large in a place that I would consider having high foot traffic from humans and dogs.