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Project Noah Nature School
Trachemys scripta elegans
When Species occur outsite their native range they are called exotics. If they manage to become established in foreign territory and rapidly increase, they have become invasive there. At the moment, a number of exotic turtle species are present in Dutch nature. Especially the Red-eared slider (Trachemys scripta elegans) is regularly observed in many locations across the country. However, the Dutch turtle population consist almost exclusively of discarded pets and none of the species now present is yet able to reproduce successfully. Presently they are therefore not invasive but climate change and the introduction of other, better suited turtle species could possibly change this.
Spotted on Mar 23, 2012
Submitted on Nov 28, 2012
2 Comments
It's even more sad that entire species are wiped out because we put foreign species in a habitat where they get the whole ecosystem out of balance.
It remains sad that these are discarded pets :-(