Home / Animals of the Upper-Midwest / Reptiles / Blanding's Turtle

Blanding's Turtle(Emys blandingii)

Blanding's Turtle | Carlos Avery WMA, Forest Lake, MN | View Enlarged Photo

Endangered Woodland Reptile

This shy, gentle woodland turtle is actually one of Minnesota's most threatened species, due largely to automobile moralities (being hit by cars) and habitat loss (homes being plunked in over its swamps and forests). Its original range once extended from Southern Canada, through Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, and Northern Iowa. It was also once common in New York., though it has been eliminated from most of its range.

Like the box turtle, the Blanding's Turtle has a hinged lid that covers its heads and legs like bony plates when they are drawn into its shell. While these hinges are not completely functional until the turtle reaches adulthood, young turtles have special camouflage patterns on their shells (much like White-tailed fawns), that allow them to blend into their backgrounds.

While they do eat some grasses and small fruit, they are largely carnivorous, eating mostly worms and slugs, snails, small crustaceans and frogs. They usually catch and eat most of their food in the water, but will crawl into adjacent wetlands and wood lots to seek food.

Interesting Blanding's Turtle Facts:

• The upper part of a turtle's shell is called the carapace, while the under part is called the plastron.
• Like human bone, turtle shell has its own blood flow, and cracks or fractures will repair themselves if properly treated.
• The Blanding's turtle catches its prey with quick snaps of its neck, much like its larger cousin the Snapper.
• Not all turtles can draw their shells the way the Blanding's Turtle can. While Painted Turtles can draw into their shell, they have no protective hinges. The Snapper Turtle cannot draw its head or legs into its shell at all, and relies mostly on its long neck and sharp, hooked jaws.
• The yellow stripe on the underside of the Blanding's throat is an easy way to identify it.
• Blanding's Turtles mate while in the water. After mating, the female will sun herself on a log to speed the development of the eggs and give the young a better chance of hatching and hibernating in thick muddy banks before the first frosts hit. Many eggs are eaten by raccoons, and many young are either eaten, or hit by cars before ever reaching the water.
• Blanding Turtles have been reported to reach ages of up to sixty years in the wild.
• Barriers along roads and highways seem to reduce automobile mortalities (deaths) along Blanding's Turtles habitat.

Multimedia:

Blanding's Turtle; top view | Carlos Avery WMA Blanding's Turtle; rear view | Carlos Avery WMA

Add to our growing wildlife encyclopedia! Submit a photo or other footage of this species!*

Want to Learn More?

In an effort to make our site as comprehensive as possible, we have supplemented our online park and wildlife survey with other educational resources. Every book we recommend has been hand-picked by a Beyond Main Street volunteer. 7.5% of all proceeds from the links below go to help Beyond Main Street build a larger, more comprehensive site!

*Submissions are full and credited property of their original owner. The name of the sender will be printed below the submission unless otherwise requested. BMS maintains one-time printing rights only. For legal reasons, all video and photography must be your own work. If there is a copyright on it, you must own it. Video, photos, and writing must have been created in Minnesota or surrounding area to be added to our database.