1. Michigan’s turtles By: Ms. Whitney

2. Painted turtles Love to live in wetland habitats. Examples of wetlands: ponds, lakes, rivers. They eat tadpoles, aquatic plants, and occasionally small fish.

3. Common snapping turtle One of the largest turtles. They live in wetlands. They have a long tail and they bite. They eat insects, fish, birds, and large amounts of aquatic plants.

4. Spotted turtle Love to live in wetlands. Very rare! This is because of habitat loss. They love to eat vegetation.

5. Spiny-soft shell turtle Have a smooth, soft shell. They have a long neck and a pig like nose. They love the wetlands! Love eating vegetation. Very shy.

6. Eastern box turtle They live in woodlands. Sometimes they move to wetlands. They eat worms, insects, plants, berries, and fungi. They are also a rare turtle to see!

7. common musk turtle One of the smallest turtles in Michigan. They live in rivers, and clear water lakes. They love to eat snails, crayfish, tadpoles, and insects.

8. Blanding’s turtle They live in shallow rivers or lakes. They sometimes nest by the road! They can live up to 80 years old. They like to eat aquatic vegetation.

9. Common map turtle Loves to be in rivers and wood areas. They’re very shy. They eat worms, small fish, and crickets.

10. Wood turtle They like to live in medium sized rivers, or smaller streams. They’re semi-aquatic. They eat both plants and small animals.

11. Red-eared slider turtle They live in still- waters (ponds, lakes, rivers). They like to eat small animals (fish) and plants. They moved up to Michigan. They didn’t always live here.

12. Why are turtles important? They can tell us about habitat quality if they’re around or not. They are very cool reptiles so we want to keep their habitat around. All Michigan turtles dig holes to lay eggs. Predators sometimes eat the eggs from the nest (raccoons are one example). Each shell is different for each turtle. 4 of the 10 turtles that live in Michigan migrated here (they weren’t originally here). These would be the spotted turtle, wood turtle, Blanding’s turtle, and eastern box turtle.