Dear turtle friends, do you know which turtle species is known as the American Money Turtle?

The answer is a wood-carved water turtle with excellent wisdom and character, also known as wood-grained turtle, forest water turtle, and forest stone turtle. Due to habitat destruction, widespread capture by humans and low survival rate of larvae, the number of wood-carved terrapins has been on a cliff-like decline in recent years and has been listed as an endangered species.

At present, it is mainly distributed in the United States and Canada, but it is extremely rare in my country. So today, the editor will take you to know the wood carving water turtle!

I. Basic information

【English name】Wood Turtle, Clemmys insculpta

【Latin name】Glyptemys insculpta

【 Subphylum] Vertebrate subphylum

[Subclass] Turtles

[Family] Turtle family

[Name and date] Le Conte, 1830

【Protection Level】(IUCN 2010 ver 3.1) - Endangered (EN); Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) - Appendix II

2. Appearance characteristics

1. Body shape: The adult size is moderate, and the body length can reach 24 cm.

2. Head: The head is large and black, with a hooked upper beak; the neck has orange or red spots.

3. Carapace: The carapace is gray to brown with black or yellow radial stripes; the fine and regular scutellum texture on the carapace looks like a pyramid, which is very distinctive.

4. Plastron: The plastron is yellow, with irregular black spots on each scutellum.

5. Limbs: The limbs of the wood-carved terrapin are relatively sturdy, brownish-red, with some orange or red spots on the forelimbs; 5 claws on the front limbs, 4 claws on the hind limbs, and underdeveloped webs between the fingers and toes.

PS: Adult male turtles have a wider head, a taller and more slender carapace, a thicker and longer tail, and a vent when the tail is extended compared to adult female turtles. beyond the edge of the carapace. In females, the carapace is small and broad, the carapace is flat and only slightly raised; the tail is narrow and short, with the vent located below the edge of the carapace when the tail is extended.

III. Habits

1. Living habits

Wood-carved terrapins inhabit deciduous forests, swamps, mud ponds and wetlands in woodlands. It is active during the day and likes to bask in the back. In summer, when dry, they often bathe in muddy puddles; in winter they hibernate in the mud bottoms of riverbeds or in burrows in river banks.

2. Eating habits

Wood-carved water turtles usually forage on land and are omnivorous turtles, mainly eating some algae, moss, aquatic plants, willow leaves, strawberries, blackberries, Foods such as insects, mollusks, earthworms and tadpoles.

Four. Breeding methods

Usually the wood-carved terrapin breeds once a year, laying 3-18 eggs each time, but after they lay eggs, they will not hatch. Therefore, the survival rate of young turtles is very low, which is one of the reasons why the number of wood-carved terrapins continues to decrease.

Okay, the above is a brief introduction to the wood-carved water turtles. I hope that through the introduction of the editor, you can have a further understanding of them.