The painted turtle (Chrysemys picta) is the most widespread native turtle of North America. It lives in slow-moving fresh waters, from southern Canada to Louisiana. Latest breaking news, including politics, crime and celebrity. Find stories, updates and expert opinion. 20,000+ more 45's are listed in our More 45 RPM catalog online! Click on 'HOME' above to view additional catalogs! Painted turtle - Wikipedia. This article is about the North American turtle. For the summer camp, see The Painted Turtle. Painted turtle. Temporal range: 1. It lives in slow- moving fresh waters, from southern Canada to Louisiana and northern Mexico, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The turtle is the only species of the genus. Chrysemys, which is part of the pond turtle family Emydidae. Fossils show that the painted turtle existed 1.
Four regionally based subspecies (the eastern, midland, southern, and western) evolved during the last ice age. The adult painted turtle female is 1. The turtle's top shell is dark and smooth, without a ridge. Its skin is olive to black with red, orange, or yellow stripes on its extremities. The subspecies can be distinguished by their shells: the eastern has straight- aligned top shell segments; the midland has a large gray mark on the bottom shell; the southern has a red line on the top shell; the western has a red pattern on the bottom shell. The turtle eats aquatic vegetation, algae, and small water creatures including insects, crustaceans, and fish. Although they are frequently consumed as eggs or hatchlings by rodents, canines, and snakes, the adult turtles' hard shells protect them from most predators. Reliant on warmth from its surroundings, the painted turtle is active only during the day when it basks for hours on logs or rocks. During winter, the turtle hibernates, usually in the mud at the bottom of water bodies. The turtles mate in spring and autumn. Females dig nests on land and lay eggs between late spring and mid- summer. Hatched turtles grow until sexual maturity: 2. Lyricsize - All lyrics database Lyricsize is a searchable lyrics database featuring 1,000,000+ song lyrics from 20,000 artists. Use xLyriX to find your favorite song. Cinema Retro has received the following press release: BURBANK, Calif., November 3, 2016 – To mark the 75 th anniversary of Orson Welles’ cinematic masterpiece. Safe: Directed by Boaz Yakin. Starring Jason Statham, Catherine Chan, James Hong, Reggie Lee, Robert John Burke. 2012 Sep: THRILLER R 95 min. In modern times, four U. S. While habitat loss and road killings have reduced the turtle's population, its ability to live in human- disturbed settings has helped it remain the most abundant turtle in North America. Adults in the wild can live for more than 5. Description. Darker specimens are more common where the bottom of the water body is darker. The bottom shell (plastron) is yellow, sometimes red, sometimes with dark markings in the center. Similar to the top shell, the turtle's skin is olive to black, but with red and yellow stripes on its neck, legs, and tail. The face has only yellow stripes, with a large yellow spot and streak behind each eye, and on the chin two wide yellow stripes that meet at the tip of the jaw. The adult female is generally longer than the male, 1. For a given length, the female has a higher (more rounded, less flat) top shell. The upper shell is olive green to black and may possess a pale stripe down the middle and red markings on the periphery. The segments (scutes) of the top shell have pale leading edges and occur in straight rows across the back, unlike all other North American turtles, including the other three subspecies of painted turtle, which have alternating segments. Sometimes as few as one dark grey spot near the lower center of the shell. Its top stripe is a prominent red. Its bottom shell has a large colored splotch that spreads to the edges (further than the midland) and often has red hues. Similar species. The painted turtle can be distinguished because it is flatter than the slider. Also, the slider has a prominent red marking on the side of its head (the . It quickly juts its head into and out of vegetation to stir potential victims out into the open water, where they are pursued. The turtle holds large prey in its mouth and tears the prey apart with its forefeet. It also consumes plants and skims the surface of the water with its mouth open to catch small particles of food. Although all subspecies of painted turtle eat both plants and animals, their specific diets vary. The eastern painted turtle's diet is the least studied. It prefers to eat in the water, but has been observed eating on land. The fish it consumes are typically dead or injured. The midland painted turtle eats mostly aquatic insects and both vascular and non- vascular plants. The southern painted turtle's diet changes with age. Juveniles' diet consists of 1. This perhaps shows that the turtle prefers small larvae and other prey, but can only obtain significant amounts while young. The reversal of feeding habits with age has also been seen in the false map turtle, which inhabits some of the same range. The most common plants eaten by adult southern painted turtles are duckweed and algae, and the most common prey items are dragonfly larvae and crayfish. The western painted turtle's consumption of plants and animals changes seasonally. In early summer, 6. In late summer, 5. Of note, the western painted turtle aids in the dispersal of white water- lily seeds. The turtle consumes the hard- coated seeds, which remain viable after passing through the turtle, and disperses them through its feces. Predators. Nests are frequently ransacked and the eggs eaten by garter snakes, crows, chipmunks, thirteen- lined ground and gray squirrels, skunks, groundhogs, raccoons, badgers, gray and red fox, and humans. The small and sometimes bite- size, numerous hatchlings fall prey to water bugs, bass, catfish, bullfrogs, snapping turtles, three types of snakes (copperheads, racers and water snakes), herons, rice rats, weasels, muskrats, minks, and raccoons. As adults, the turtles' armored shells protect them from many potential predators, but they still occasionally fall prey to alligators, ospreys, crows, red- shouldered hawks, bald eagles, and especially raccoons. Painted turtles defend themselves by kicking, scratching, biting, or urinating. In contrast to land tortoises, painted turtles can right themselves if they are flipped upside down. Males start producing sperm in early spring, when they can bask to an internal temperature of 1. Females begin their reproductive cycles in mid- summer, and ovulate the following spring. The pair repeat the process several times, with the male retreating from and then returning to the female until she swims to the bottom, where they copulate. A single clutch may have multiple fathers. Egg- laying. Nests are often within 2. Nest sizes vary depending on female sizes and locations but are about 5. Females may return to the same sites several consecutive years, but if several females make their nests close together, the eggs become more vulnerable to predators. The female's optimal body temperature while digging her nest is 2. If the weather is unsuitable, for instance a too hot night in the Southeast, she delays the process until later at night. Painted turtles in Virginia have been observed waiting three weeks to nest because of a hot drought. While preparing to dig her nest, the female sometimes exhibits a mysterious preliminary behavior. She presses her throat against the ground of different potential sites, perhaps sensing moisture, warmth, texture, or smell, although her exact motivation is unknown. She may further temporize by excavating several false nests as the wood turtles also do. The female relies on her hind feet for digging. She may accumulate so much sand and mud on her feet that her mobility is reduced, making her vulnerable to predators. To lighten her labors, she lubricates the area with her bladder water. Once the nest is complete, the female deposits into the hole. The freshly laid eggs are white, elliptical, porous, and flexible. From start to finish, the female's work may take four hours. Sometimes she remains on land overnight afterwards, before returning to her home water. Females can lay five clutches per year, but two is a normal average after including the 3. In some northern populations, no females lay more than one clutch per year. Bigger females tend to lay bigger eggs and more eggs per clutch. Clutch sizes of the subspecies vary, although the differences may reflect different environments, rather than different genetics. The two more northerly subspecies, western and midland, are larger and have more eggs per clutch. Within subspecies, also, the more northerly females lay larger clutches. Incubation lasts 7. In August and September, the young turtle breaks out from its egg, using a special projection of its jaw called the egg tooth. The painted turtle is genetically adapted to survive extended periods of subfreezing temperatures with blood that can remain supercooled and skin that resists penetration from ice crystals in the surrounding ground. The hardest freezes nevertheless kill many hatchlings. About a week to a week and a half after emerging from their eggs (or the following spring if emergence is delayed), hatchlings begin feeding to support growth. The young turtles grow rapidly at first, sometimes doubling their size in the first year. Growth slows sharply at sexual maturity and may stop completely. Likely owing to differences of habitat and food by water body, growth rates often differ from population to population in the same area. Among the subspecies, the western painted turtles are the quickest growers. Females grow faster than males overall, and must be larger to mature sexually. In most populations males reach sexual maturity at 2. Size and age at maturity increase with latitude; at the northern edge of their range, males reach sexual maturity at 7. All ages bask for warmth, often alongside other species of turtle. Sometimes more than 5. Turtles bask on a variety of objects, often logs, but have even been seen basking on top of common loons that were covering eggs. The turtle starts its day at sunrise, emerging from the water to bask for several hours. Warmed for activity, it returns to the water to forage. After becoming chilled, the turtle re- emerges for one to two more cycles of basking and feeding. At night, the turtle drops to the bottom of its water body or perches on an underwater object and sleeps. To be active, the turtle must maintain an internal body temperature between 1. When fighting infection, it manipulates its temperature up to 5 . However, if the water temperature exceeds 3. In fall, the turtle stops foraging when temperatures drop below the spring set- point. During the winter, the turtle hibernates.
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