Image: Wood Turtle (Glyptemys Clemmys insculpta)

Description: At home on land or in water, wood turtles are found near clear brooks and streams in deciduous forests, as well as in swamps, bogs, wet meadows and fields. They are active for five to nine months of the year, depending on the weather and location. In the winter, they hibernate on the bottom of waterways where the water does not freeze, in a hole in the stream bank, or among submerged, tangled tree roots. With somewhat pyramid-shaped scutes (plates) marked with conspicuous growth rings, the carapace (top shell) of this turtle looks ‘sculpted’. The broad carapace is tan, grayish, or brown and has a low, central keel (mid-dorsal ridge); the scutes usually have radiating yellow streaks. The underside of the carapace and the plastron (bottom shell) are yellow with one large, dark blotch on each scute. The head is black, sometimes with faint yellow markings. The rest of the skin is brown with variable yellow to red coloration on the throat, neck, tail and legs.
Title: Wood Turtle (Glyptemys Clemmys insculpta)
Credit: originally posted to Flickr as Wood Turtle (Glyptemys [Clemmys insculpta)]
Author: Cliff
Permission: This image, which was originally posted to Flickr, was uploaded to Commons using Flickr upload bot on 2 December 2009, 20:17 by Tim1357. On that date, it was confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the license indicated. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license. You are free: to share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work to remix – to adapt the work Under the following conditions: attribution – You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 CC BY 2.0 Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 truetrue
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