The Eastern Painted Turtle
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| The Eastern Painted Turtle is one of the most common of North American turtles . They are seen commonly basking, often head to tail, or even pyramiding with each other. There are several interesting behaviors that may be observed in their basking. These turtles may ignore or threaten each other, but may also be seen to stack when the turtle population exceeds available sites. Observation of their courtship and mating rituals yields intriguing conclusions: the male will circle about the female, making sweeping gestures with his claws along her head and neck; she will either dive to avoid him or, if she apparently fancies him, will touch his front feet with hers. They will then descend to the bottom of the pond and mate. In his book Swampwalker’s Journal, David Carroll describes the ballet of courtship of two painted turtles as a kind of slow motion dance or ritual, part of which he describes as the “restrained ceremonial flight that is part of painted turtle courtship.” | |
All text and images copyright (c) Steven M. Richman 2006-2007