Eastern musk turtle, Stinkpot
Sternotherus odoratus is a species of small turtle in the family Kinosternidae. The species is native to southeastern Canada and much of the Eastern United States. It is also known commonly as the common musk turtle, eastern musk turtle, or stinkpot due to its ability to release a foul musky odor from scent glands on the edge of its shell, possibly to deter predation. This turtle is grouped in the same family as mud turtles.
The Common musk turtle is a small turtle native to North America. It is black, grey, or brown in color and has a long neck and rather short legs. The yellow lines on the neck are a good field marker, and often can be seen from above in swimming turtles. Males can usually be distinguished from females by their significantly longer tails and by the spike that protrudes at the end of the tail. Females are also typically larger than males. The head of these turtles is vaguely triangular in shape, with a pointed snout and sharp beak, and yellow-green striping from the tip of the nose to the neck. Barbels are present on the chin and the throat. Their tiny tongues are covered in bud-like papillae that allow them to respire underwater.
Common musk turtles are found in southern Ontario, southern Quebec, and in the Eastern United States from southern Maine in the north, south through to Florida, and west to central Texas, with a disjunct population located in central Wisconsin. They live in a variety of wetland habitats and littoral zones, particularly shallow watercourses with a slow current and muddy bottom. These include swamps, marshes, ephemeral pools, and large rivers and lakes.
Common musk turtles are generally solitary and typically nocturnal creatures. They are almost entirely aquatic and spend the vast majority of their time in shallow, heavily vegetated waters of slow-moving creeks, or in ponds. They typically only come on land when the female lays eggs, or in some cases, to bask. Common musk turtles are poor swimmers and can most often be found walking along the bottom of their native habitats. Their defense mechanism is to excrete a musk scent from a small gland in their underside. This is used to scare away predators and natural enemies. If harassed, musk turtles often will not hesitate to bite. During cold months of the year, Common musk turtles hibernate buried in the mud under logs, or in muskrat lodges.
Common musk turtles are carnivores and scavengers. They feed on a wide variety of aquatic invertebrates including crayfish, freshwater clams, snails, aquatic larvae, and various insects. They will also eat fish, tadpoles, and carrion.
The breeding season of Common musk turtles occurs in the spring, and females often lay between 2 and 9 elliptical, hard-shelled eggs in a shallow burrow or under shoreline debris. They often share nesting sites and in one case there were 16 nests under a single log. The eggs hatch in late summer or early fall after an incubation period of 100 to 150 days. Hatchlings are usually less than one inch long and have a very rigid shell which will become less pronounced as they age and will eventually be completely smooth and domed. Females become reproductively mature at 4 years of age while males achieve maturity when they are 2 years old.
The main threats to Common musk turtles include degradation of wetland habitats and road mortality of breeding females. Egg predation is another major cause of mortality, as with many turtle species. For instance, in one Pennsylvania population, hatching success was only 15 percent, and predators alone destroyed 25 of 32 nests.
The IUCN Red List and other sources don’t provide the number of the Common musk turtle total population size. Currently, this species is classified as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List and its numbers today are stable.
