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Project Noah Nature School
Spotted turtle. Male or female???
In moss near the side of the road. Central MA.
Spotted on May 15, 2011
Submitted on May 26, 2011
3 Comments
As you can see in the picture, she/he was walking through poison ivy, that's why we didn't pick it up for another picture from underneath!
After googling female spotted turtles, I would say this is probably a male.
I think the only way to accurately tell the sexes apart is with the coloration of the chin. This is from wikipedia....The male spotted turtle has a tan chin, brown eyes, and a long, thick tail. The chin of the female is yellow; she also has orange eyes and a shorter tail than the male. In addition, the bottom shell of males is concave while it is either flat or convex in females. Females have more spots than males also.