Reptiles
Blanding's Turtle
Emydoidea blandingii · also called Blanding's turtles
A Blanding’s turtle always looks pleased about something, its bright yellow chin and throat giving it a permanent, cheerful expression regardless of circumstance. The reality behind that smile is a slow, patient life: decades to mature, decades more to potentially live, and an increasing number of roads to cross along the way between one wetland and the next.
Overview
Blanding’s turtle, Emydoidea blandingii, is a long-lived, high-domed wetland turtle found primarily around North America’s Great Lakes region. Its bright yellow chin and throat are among its most distinctive features, set against an otherwise dark shell.
A life too slow for modern roads
Not reaching sexual maturity until 14 to 20 years old, and living potentially past 70, Blanding’s turtle depends on exactly the kind of slow, steady population stability that road mortality during its long overland wetland-to-wetland journeys puts increasingly at risk.
Status
Endangered — declining from wetland habitat loss and road mortality, compounded by one of the slowest reproductive timelines of any North American turtle.
Blanding's Turtle: common questions
Why does Blanding's turtle look like it is smiling?
Blanding's turtle has a distinctive bright yellow chin and throat that contrasts sharply against its dark, high-domed shell, and the position and colour of this yellow patch gives the species a permanent smiling appearance that is one of its most immediately recognisable and frequently mentioned features.
How long can a Blanding's turtle actually live?
Blanding's turtle is an unusually long-lived species even among turtles, with some individuals documented living well past 70 years, a lifespan considerably longer than many other North American turtle species and one closely tied to the species' slow, delayed approach to reproduction.
Why does Blanding's turtle take so long to reach reproductive age?
A Blanding's turtle typically does not reach sexual maturity until somewhere between 14 and 20 years of age, a notably slow developmental timeline compared with many other reptiles, which means population recovery after a significant decline can take an especially long time for this species.
Why are road crossings such a serious risk for Blanding's turtle?
Blanding's turtles are known to travel considerable distances overland between different wetland habitats to access seasonally varying resources, and these overland movements frequently bring the slow-moving turtles into contact with roads, making vehicle strikes a significant and ongoing source of mortality across much of the species' range.