Blanding’s Turtle

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*This page is under renovation and all information may not be up-to-date or complete*

Description

Blanding’s turtles are medium-sized, semi-aquatic freshwater turtles. Their most easily identifiable feature is their bright yellow neck and throat. Their carapaces, or upper shells, are dark gray and marked with yellow-tan spots or worm-like lines.

Range & Habitat

Blanding’s turtles are native to the upper Midwest, New York, and New England (U.S.) and southern Canada, including Nova Scotia.

At the Virginia Zoo, you can find Blanding’s turtles in Turtle Oasis.

Behavior

As a semi-aquatic turtle species, the Blanding’s turtle spends time both in slow-moving freshwater habitats and on nearby land. Over winter, Blanding’s turtles bury themselves in mud in ponds, marshes, or slow-moving winters. In the spring, this species will emerge and begin to breed. In June or July, female Blanding’s turtles leave the water in search of a safe nesting site, traveling up to a mile over land. At night, female turtles dig a hole in an area with good drainage and minimal vegetation and lay a clutch of about 12 eggs (range of 3-25 eggs). Once the eggs are laid, the females bury them and return to the water.

Diet

Blanding’s turtles eat a varied diet of fish, frogs, crawfish and other crustaceans, other types of invertebrates, and aquatic vegetation.

Conservation

Habitat destruction and fragmentation are the greatest threats to Blanding’s turtles. Habitat fragmentation due to roads is especially dangerous for the Blanding’s turtle, as this species is known to travel longer distances over land between bodies of water. Road mortality is quite common for this species.

Fun Facts

• The Blanding’s turtle is named for William Blanding, a Massachusetts-born doctor and naturalist. He is said to have discovered the first described Blanding’s turtles near Chicago, Illinois.
• The oldest known Blanding’s turtle lived to be over 83 years-old.