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Archive for the ‘Testudines’ Category

Other creatures on the Myrtle Beach pond

Posted in birds, Testudines, tagged mallard, painted turtle, turtle on April 28, 2013 | 1 Comment »

I captured these at the same pond where the otter was spotted today:

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November box turtle

Posted in Testudines, tagged box turtle, Eastern box turtle on November 12, 2012 | 1 Comment »

It’s been unusually warm during the past twenty-four hours, and the warmth has drawn out a box turtle.

There is a front coming through, so he may be more interested in enjoying what will likely be the last warm rain of the year. Warm rains bring the earthworms out, and box turtles eat a lot of earthworms.

He better eat fast. This front is supposed to be bringing some snow by tomorrow morning.

 

 

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Tortoise sex

Posted in Absolute Piffle, Testudines, tagged tortoises on October 5, 2011 | 2 Comments »

I think he’s enjoying himself.

Her– well, not so much.

Source.

I’m not sure what species of tortoise these two belong to, but I thinking they are in the genus Testudo.

Most male tortoises make sounds while copulating.

I think it would be wrong to assume that they do it for the same reasons people do.

But I don’t have a clue why they make these noises.

If someone knows, please explain it to me.

 

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Pond slider mating ritual

Posted in animal behavior, pet reptiles, Testudines, Turtles, tagged pond slider, red-ear slider on May 28, 2009 |

The males have these long claws on their front legs. If kept away from a female, he may be seen swimming around his tank while doing this bizarre ritual:

Source.

For those people who claim this is a dominance ritual– turtles don’t have dominance hierarchies. You have to have a brain larger than a pin’s head to have a dominance hierarchy. They do have territorial behavior, and sometimes  they do use mating behavior as territorial behavior. I think it’s because people watch things like the Dog Whisperer that they think that all animal behavior can be reduced to dominance and submission. Well, that’s not true in dogs, and it’s certainly not true in more primitive animals.

When he gets a female in his tank, he does rakes his claws around her head. Apparently, female pond sliders like their men with cuticles like Edward Scissorhands.

Source
Pond sliders aren’t native to my part of the country, but you can find them here. The red-eared subspecies is so common in the pet trade, and most people don’t know how to care for an aquatic turtle. When these things outgrow their tanks or their food bill becomes too high, their owners release them into the wild. Like this fellow. (NEVER EVER RELEASE PET ANIMALS INTO THE WILD. NEVER.)

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