Reptiles
Common Musk Turtle
Sternotherus odoratus · also called stinkpot, eastern musk turtle
The common musk turtle is one of the most abundant turtles in the eastern United States and one of the least seen. It is small, dark, usually furred with algae, and it spends its life walking the bottom of a pond. It also climbs trees, and if you startle one up there, it will drop on you.
Overview
Sternotherus odoratus is a small turtle, shell only 5 to 14 cm, of the shallow margins of ponds, lakes, marshes, and slow rivers across the eastern US. It is an omnivore and scavenger, walking the bottom and eating snails, clams, insects, crayfish, and carrion.
The musk
Scent glands under the shell edge release a foul yellowish fluid when the turtle is caught — hence “stinkpot.” It deters raccoons, herons, and fish.
A tree-climbing bottom-walker
It is a poor swimmer that walks rather than swims, and can take up some oxygen through the lining of its mouth, staying down for long periods. It regularly climbs sloping trunks and overhanging branches to bask, and drops straight into the water — or a boat — when disturbed. Its long neck and sharp beak give it a real bite.
Status
Least Concern and abundant, tolerant even of urban lakes, though vulnerable to boat strikes and to drowning in traps and nets.
Common Musk Turtle: common questions
Why is it called a stinkpot?
Because of the smell it produces in self-defence. The common musk turtle has a pair of glands on each side of the body, beneath the seam where the upper and lower shell meet, and when the turtle is grabbed, netted, or otherwise alarmed it discharges a yellowish oily secretion from them. The odour is strong, musky, and genuinely unpleasant, lingering on hands and gear, and it presumably makes a predator such as a raccoon, a heron, or a large fish think twice about eating the turtle or drop one it has already caught. Handling a stinkpot gently and briefly usually avoids setting it off; grabbing one roughly almost guarantees it.
Do musk turtles really climb trees?
Yes, and it is well documented. Common musk turtles climb the sloping trunks and low branches of trees that lean out over the water, and they have been found perched a metre or two up, occasionally higher. They seem to do it to bask in filtered sun while staying close to the safety of the water, since unlike painted turtles they rarely haul out onto open logs. The behaviour catches people out because a musk turtle that is disturbed on its perch simply lets go and falls, and canoeists and anglers passing under such trees have had turtles land in the boat or splash down beside them.
Is a common musk turtle a good pet?
It is one of the more manageable aquatic turtles for an experienced keeper, staying small, tolerating a modestly sized aquarium, and living 30 to 50 years or more. It needs clean, filtered water, a shallow area and a basking spot, an omnivorous diet, and secure covering because it will climb out. The main drawbacks are that it is not especially interactive, being a shy bottom-dweller, that it can bite, and that its musk and its habit of clambering on everything are part of the deal. As with any native turtle, animals should be captive-bred rather than taken from the wild, and they must never be released.
How does it breathe if it stays underwater so much?
Partly through its mouth. The common musk turtle has a heavily folded, blood-rich lining in its mouth and throat, dotted with small projections, that can take up dissolved oxygen directly from the water as the turtle pumps water in and out. This does not fully replace breathing air, and the turtle still surfaces, but it greatly extends how long it can stay down, which suits an animal that walks the bottom of a pond for hours and hibernates underwater in the mud through the winter. Several other bottom-dwelling turtles, and some aquatic snakes, use versions of the same trick.