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Red-eared Slider

Trachemys scripta elegans

Photo by joanbstanley
Published on Project Noah
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33.3755, -96.4731

Field Notes

Description:

Medium sized turtle with a dark green oval shell, marked with yellow in younger turtles, green legs with thin yellow stripes and a green head with a red stripe behind the eye.

Habitat:

Collin County Adventure Camp is a branch of the YMCA of Metropolitan Dallas and an ACA accredited facility and program. Explore the unique environment of the Black Land Prairie in our Outdoor Education program.

Notes:

Red-eared sliders are Texas's most common aquatic turtles. These turtles get their name from a broad red stripe behind their eye and their habit of sliding off rocks and logs when startled. Older turtles are often covered with a thick coat of algae. Some red-eared sliders live more than 30 years.

Sliders are cold-blooded and spend hours sunning themselves on rocks and logs. If there are not enough rocks or logs for all of them they will often stack themselves one on top of the other! They bury themselves in loose soil or mud during the winter to escape the cold. When population numbers get high, these turtles move across land to other bodies of water in search of food and space. They eat aquatic plants, small fish, and decaying material.

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Photographed
PublishedApril 24, 2013

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