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A female Leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) crawls back to the sea after nesting on Matura Beach in Trinidad. Leatherbacks typically nest at night, and it is therefore rarae to find one on the beach during daylight hours. These turtles are found all over the world's ocean, including the Gulf of Maine. Photo by Brian Skerry. For more information visit www.newenglandoceanodyssey.org.
Glyptemys insculpta
April, 2012. Northern Michigan.
A striking adult female found basking a few feet away from another adult female on a small, grassy island in a northern Michigan river.
Yep, we got to see some pretty sweet giant turtles up close. The pictures required a lot of color correction to look decent.
Jul 6, 2008 #311 on Explore :=)))) thanks again everyone !!!!!!!!!!!!
Meet Mr. Turtle...in my garden...
Most land tortoises are herbivorous, feeding on plant material, and have no teeth. The mouth forms a sharp-edged beak. They occur in the warmer regions of all continents except Australia. Tortoises have been known to live for 150 years.
Do not feel obilagated to comment or invite..just enjoy !!!
Apparently the folks at Bustani have a good enough habitat (with all those flower beds) to host a pair of ornate box turtles.
I'm told this was the female of the pair, but I didn't pick her up to verify...as I was told she tended to bite.
I've only seen this species perhaps 3 times in my life in the wild, so this was a nice sighting. I see usually other species of box turtle at my house, such as the three toed box turtle.
It's neither a teenager nor a ninja, but still...
About the Photo:
The photo was taken with my Nikon d7000. Before the photo was processed with the A10 preset in VSCO Cam, it was tweaked in the Camera+ app.
TAXONOMY
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Testudines
Suborder: Cryptodira
Family: Cheloniidae
Genus/Species: Chelonia mydas
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS: Large, weighty sea turtle with a wide, smooth carapace, or shell. It is named not for the color of its shell, which is normally brown or olive depending on its habitat, but for the greenish color of its skin.
Length: Up to 5 ft (1.5 m)
Weight: Up to 700 lbs (317.5 kg)
DISTRIBUTION/HABITAT: Pacific, Above photo taken at Poipu beach Kauai but they are found trough out the entire Hawaiian archipelago.
Note: The Atlantic green turtle, is found off the shores of Europe and North America,
DIET: Herbivore, Seagrass and Algae. Juvenile green turtles, however, will also eat invertebrates like crabs, jellyfish, and sponges.
REPRODUCTION: Mature 25 at years.Green turtles, undertake lengthy migrations from feeding sites to nesting grounds, normally on sandy beaches. Nesting grounds are scattered throughout the entire Pacific region, including Mexico, the Hawaiian Islands, the South Pacific, the northern coast of Australia, and Southeast Asia. Mating occurs every two to four years and normally takes place in shallow waters close to the shore. To nest, females leave the sea and choose an area, on the same beach used by their mothers, to lay their eggs. They dig a pit in the sand with their flippers, fill it with a clutch of 100 to 200 eggs, cover the pit and return to the sea, leaving the eggs to hatch after about two months.
Lifespan: Over 80 years in the wild
PREDATORS: Tiger Sharks. Juveniles returning to the sea are voraciously predated upon by crabs and sea gulls,
CONSERVATION: IUCN Endangered
Threatened by humans who kill them for their meat and eggs. Numbers are also reduced by boat propeller accidents, fishnet-caused drowning, and the destruction of their nesting grounds by human encroachment.
REMARKS: Like other sea turtles, the green turtle cannot pull its head into its shell.
Can swim at up to 35 mph and remain underwater up to 2 hours.
It is one of the few marine turtles known to leave the water other than at nesting times. C. mydas may be seen basking on sandy beaches warming themselves.
References
National Geographic
animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/reptiles/green-tur...
12-3-15
This young snapping turtle went about 10 inches across the shell, weighed around 2.5 lbs. I photographed him on the road at Bedford Mills, then carefull picked him up and moved him before he was hit. Note the duck-weed and filamentous algae covering his carapace. My wife did not appreciate my "turtle stink" when I got back in the car!
This young snapping turtle went about 10 inches across the shell, weighed around 2.5 lbs. I photographed him on the road at Bedford Mills, then carefull picked him up and moved him before he was hit. Note the duck-weed and filamentous algae covering his carapace. My wife did not appreciate my "turtle stink" when I got back in the car!