Of the more than 250 species of turtles in the world, 17 of them are native to Illinois. Some Illinois turtle species are found only in specific habitats, whereas others thrive in a variety of different places. Turtles are active through the warm months of the year, but all species hibernate during the winter. Illinois turtles are omnivores, feeding mostly on plants, fruit, snails, clams, and insects.
Alligator snapping turtle, Macroclemys temminckii: Lives in rivers, lakes, canals, and cypress swamps, mostly in the southern half of the state; has a red worm-like projection from its lower jaw that is used to lure fish into its mouth; Status: Endangered; UofI-AST; IDNR-AST
Turtles have a unique body structure consisting of a keratin shell, consisting of a tough fiber made of protein. Shells may be a leathery, pliable skin-like covering or a hard cover made of scutes of varying shapes and sizes that all fit together. Shells are an integral part of the body containing skin, bones, nerves, and blood vessels. Turtles lack teeth but have hard, bony jaws, and they have webbed, clawed feet that easily accommodate movement over land and through water.
Blanding’s turtle, Emydoidea blandingii: Lives in quiet water in marshes, wet meadow, or vegetation in lakes; Can move long distances overland and lives over 70 years in the wild; Status: State Endangered; UofI-BT; IDNR-BT
Turtles lay their eggs in a shallow, flat-bottomed hole dug by the female and covered with soil. Eggs hatch in about two months, and hatchlings are on their own with no parental care. Most will leave the nest immediately, except for painted turtle hatchlings which remain in the nest over the first winter, emerging the following spring. As winter approaches, aquatic species will burrow in to the bottom of a pond to hibernate, while terrestrial species will dig a burrow below the frostline to spend the winter.
Common musk turtle, Sternotherus odoratus: Most often found basking along still, shallow waters; Releases a strong, musky odor when disturbed, earning it the nickname of stinkpot; Status: Common; UofI-CMT; IDNR-CMT
There are many factors pressuring turtle populations in Illinois, as in the rest of the world. Natural hazards including predation, freezing, asphyxiation during hibernation, and drowning from flooding during hibernation. Illegal human activities include trapping turtles for food and the pet industry; both are serious problems in Illinois. Other turtles are lost due to habitat destruction from urban and farmland development, being killed by auto traffic, drowning after being caught on fishing hooks or nets, and being shot when used for target practice.
Eastern box turtle, Terrapene carolina: Found in the southern half of Illinois and likes berries and fungi; Hatchlings come out in September; Can live close to 100 years; Status: Common; UofI-EBT; IDNR-EBT
For more information on turtles in Illinois, take a look at our blog pictures or the following websites. Tips for handling wild turtles in Illinois can be found at Wildlife-Illinois. An educational poster of all Illinois turtle species is available from Illinois IDNR at Wild-About-Turtles. Click on UofI-xx or IDNR-xx links with each picture to learn more.
Eastern mud turtle, Kinosternon subrubrum: Lives in bottomland forests along rivers and streams in the southern one-third of Illinois; Status: Common; UofI-EMT; IDNR-EMTNorthern map turtle, Graptemys geographica: Prefers slow moving backwater in rivers and lakes; A shy turtle that will dive into water at the slightest provocation; Status: Common; UofI-NMT; IDNR-NMT
False map turtle, Graptemys pseudogeographica: Likes slow moving water with muddy bottoms and lots of basking opportunities; A very shy turtle that will dive into the water at the first sign of disturbance; Status: Common especially along the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers; UofI-FMT; IDNR-FMT
Painted turtle; Chrysemys picta: Likes shallow, weedy wetlands; Often observed basking quietly in large numbers on logs along shorelines and in shallow water areas; Status: Common; UofI-PT; IDNR-PT
Ouachita map turtle, Graptemys ouachitensis: Lives in rivers with sandy or gravelly bottoms; Often found in large groups basking in the sun on logs along river banks; Status: Common, especially along the Illinois and Wabash Rivers; UofI-OMT; IDNR-OMT
Red-eared Slider, Trachemys scripta: Lives in quiet waters with lots of vegetation and muddy bottoms; Status: Common; UofI-ST; IDNR-ST
Spiny softshell turtle, Apalone spinifera: Lives in still waters with sand bars or mud bars; Readily bites when disturbed, delivering a painful wound from sharp-edged jaws; Status: Common; UofI-SpST; IDNR-SpST
River cooter, Pseudemys concinna: Likes slow moving backwaters from large rivers and reservoirs; Status: State endangered; UofI-RCT; IDNR-RCT
Smooth softshell turtle, Apalone mutica: Live in clean rivers with sandy bottoms; Their leathery skin, lacking, scutes make them appear as a flat pancake laying on the sand; Status: State threatened; UofI-SmST; IDNR-SmST
Snapping turtle, Chelydra serpentina: Likes any wetland; aggressive on land, but calm in the water; heavily exploited for human food; Weighs up to 85 pounds; Status: Common; UofI-SnT; IDNR-SnT
Yellow mud turtle, Kinosternon flavescens: A small turtle found only along the Illinois and Mississippi river corridors; most of its habitat has been destroyed by locks and dams or agricultural conversion; Status: State endangered; UofI-YMT; IDNR-YMT
Ornate box turtle, Terrapene ornata: Found in prairies or open fields and lives up to 30 years; Status: State threatened; UofI-OBT; IDNR-OBT
Spotted turtle; Clemmys guttata: Likes shallow wetlands found in or adjacent to prairie; A small turtle found only in the northeastern corner of the state; Status: State endangered; UofI-SpT; IDNR-SpT
To learn more about the following species or topics, click on the name to link to a previous blog:
Sea turtles live in every ocean environment around the world, nesting on tropical and subtropical beaches, and migrating long distances. They spend their entire lives at sea except when females come ashore to lay their eggs. They have been on earth for over 100 million years, surviving the period when most dinosaurs and other reptiles died out 65 million years ago.
Coral reef & hawksbill sea turtle by jakubgojda, Indian Ocean, Maldives
Sea turtles are large, air-breathing reptiles with upper (carapace) and lower (plastron) shells. Six of the seven species are covered by hard scales called scutes. Although none have teeth, jaws are suited to each species specific diet. Sea turtles do not have ears, but there are eardrum openings covered by a flap of skin. Their sense of smell is excellent as is their underwater vision, although they are nearsighted when out of the water. Along with a streamlined body, they possess powerful legs and claws for swimming, diving, and catching food.
Green turtle eating seagrass by LauraDin, Getty Images
Green sea turtles, Chelonia mydas, on coral reef by Artush, Alam, Egypt
Sea turtles, along with manatees, are excellent caretakers of seagrass beds and coral reefs, habitats that are vital to the reproduction of fish, shellfish, and crustaceans. Seagrass, one of their favorite foods, grows faster and stronger with daily trimming from turtle munching. Coral beds, vulnerable to collapse and suffocation under mass quantities of sponges and small crustaceans, benefit from sea turtles that eat several hundred of these animals each day.
Olive ridley digging egg chamber by JHVEPhoto, Getty Images, Costa Rica
Green sea turtle hatchlings by Penny Britt, Getty Images
After reaching sexual maturity, which takes from 15 to 50 years, depending on the species, female sea turtles return every two to five years to the beach where they were born to lay their eggs. On average, they dig three to seven nests and place about 100 eggs in each. Baby sea turtles break out of their egg and instinctively flee for the lighter colored horizon where the ocean meets the beach. They spend several years in the open ocean feeding and growing before venturing into shallower waters to eat, mate, and reproduce. Only about one in a thousand babies will grow to be an adult. Most are prey for birds, crabs and fish, but many are killed by humans for food, medicines, and religious ceremonies. Nesting site habitat destruction and turtles caught as part of the fishing industry also play a part in population decline.
Jellyfish & jacks by melissaf84, Getty Images, Coral Sea; Whelks by Pack-Shot, Getty Images; Reef crab by JohnAndersonPhoto, Getty Images, Lembeh Strait, Indonesia; Posidonia seagrass meadow by Arnaud Abadie, Getty Images Signature, Mediterranean Sea
Females lay all of their eggs on land, but nesting sites and the best feeding sites may be thousands of miles apart. Sea turtles are found throughout the world’s oceans following concentrations of jellyfish, sponges, and crustaceans found in coral reefs and seagrass beds. Leatherback females have been tracked making migrations of over 12,000 miles between nest sites and the best annual feeding grounds during non-breeding seasons.
Read facts on each species in the sidebar, shown below. Come to the Jurica-Suchy Nature Museum where we have loggerhead, hawksbill, and green sea turtles on display to learn more about these creatures and their hidden realms.
Pics 1&2: Green sea turtle, Chelonia mydas, by DonArnold, JSNM 2023; Pics 3-6: Hawksbill sea turtle, Eretmochelys imbricata, by DonArnold, JSNM 2023; Pic 7: Loggerhead sea turtle, Caretta caretta, by DonArnold, JSNM 2023
Sea turtle species…
There are seven species of sea turtles in the world. All are experiencing dwindling populations from various threats. Two are critically endangered: the hawksbill sea turtle and the Kemp’s ridley sea turtle. Two are endangered: the green sea turtle and the flatback sea turtle. Three are listed as threatened: the leatherback sea turtle, the olive ridley sea turtle, and the loggerhead sea turtle.
Hawksbill sea turtles, Eretmochelys imbricata, have a narrow head allowing access to tight spaces in coral reefs, the usual spot to find sponges. They consume 1,000 pounds of sponges annually, keeping coral reefs free from suffocation by the sponges. These turtles are medium size at 2′-3′ and 100-200 pounds. Females nest on beaches among rocky areas 3-4 times in a season and lay 140-200 eggs in each nest.
Hawksbill portrait, Eretmochelys imbricata, by Sheraca, Dec 2014; Hawksbill sea turtle, Eretmochelys imbricata, by Goug Finney, Sep 2019
Kemp’s ridley sea turtles, Lepidochelys kempii, are the smallest species at 2′ in diameter and 75-100 pounds. Kemp’s ridley turtles have made a huge recovery from the 1960s, when there were about 200 individuals left, to almost 9,000 today. This is due to changes in Mexico’s laws, where 95% of their nesting takes place, to protect nest sites from disturbance.
Kemp’s ridley sea turtle, Lepidochelys kempii, by USFWS, Sep 2010
Green sea turtles, Chelonia mydas, grow to 4′ and 500 pounds. They are herbivores with a finely serrated beak for biting seagrass and scraping algae from hard surfaces. This is the only species known to come onshore to bask in the sun. They are named for the color of their fat, not their shell.
Green sea turtle, Chelonia mydas, by Florida Fish&Wildlife
Flatback sea turtles, Natator depressus, have a flattened carapace, unlike other turtles. They are medium sized at 3′ and 200 pounds. Found only in Australia, they do not migrate. Females lay only about 50 eggs in a nest, but nests are well spread out, helping to better protect their eggs. Their biggest threat is being preyed upon by saltwater crocodiles.
Leatherback sea turtles, Dermochelys coriacea, are the largest species at 4′-8′ and 500-2,000 pounds. They consume mostly jellyfish, daily eating their own weight in food. They have no scutes, but are covered by a flexible, leathery skin that allows them to dive up to 4,000 feet deep searching for prey. These turtles have thermoregulatory adaptations that allow them to hunt in very cold waters from Alaska to Chile, and they regularly make the longest migration of any vertebrate animal, traveling over 12,000 miles annually.
Leatherback sea turtle, Dermochelys coriacea, by Claudia Lombard, USFWS, Jun 2011
Olive ridley sea turtles, Lepidochelys olivacea, are small at 2′ and 75-100 pounds. They are the most abundant of all species. On certain beach sites, nesting females form an arribada, a grouping of all the females offshore who all come ashore at the same time to nest and lay eggs. Females on other sites may nest alone. Arribadas are particularly vulnerable to mass mortality events, but these are rare and population numbers remain consistent.
Olive ridley sea turtle, Lepidochelys olivacea, by Charles Peterson, Head Start Programs, Oct 2002
Loggerhead sea turtles, Caretta caretta, grow to 4′ and 200-400 pounds. Their very large heads and jaws can easily crush hard shells, allowing them to eat crabs, conches, and whelks. They have the largest concentration of nests annually, including 30,000 at a single Mediterranean location. Their shells provide space for 50 to 100 epibionts: plants and invertebrates that live permanently attached to their shells.
Loggerhead sea turtle, Caretta caretta, & epibionts by actor212, Aug 2017
