Painted Turtle - Sierra Club BC
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Painted Turtle

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Painted Turtle

Chrysemys picta 

Appearance

These turtles are best known for their ‘painted’ bodies. They have yellow stripes on their arms, legs, and neck as well as red stripes on the underside of their shells. These bright markings warn predators not to eat this turtle. Painted turtles are one of the smaller turtles, their green and brown shell measures only 15 to 25 centimetres in length. 

Range & Habitat

You can find painted turtles just about anywhere in freshwater habitats in southern Canada, the U.S.A., and even in Northern Mexico. The ideal habitat for these turtles are slow-moving lakes and streams that have great basking sites, like logs and rocks. 

Reciprocal Relationships

The painted turtle is an important part of ecosystems throughout British Columbia. They like to eat a variety of plants and animals, ranging from snails and insects to algae and aquatic plants. They have also been known to snack on dead animals if one is found near their home. Painted turtles are famous for their basking behaviour, sometimes piling on top of each other to warm up in the sun’s rays. They do this to warm their body after sleeping on the pond floor and receive vitamin D3 from the sun. During the winter, they burrow into the mud and remain dormant until the spring. 

Runoff from pesticides and chemical fertilizers continues to threaten the painted turtle’s survival. These turtles are also a common pet and have been collected from the wild for commercial purposes. There are threatened populations of the painted turtle in B.C. Because of this, the Coastal Painted Turtle Project releases baby turtles onto protected nesting beaches throughout Vancouver parks.  

status

COSEWIC: Populations of Special Concern, and Threatened in BC 
CDC: Red and Blue Populations in BC 

more information

If you belong to a First Nation with a story or piece of information not represented here and you would like to share more about this species, please email us at education@sierraclub.bc.ca

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