#sternotherus odoratus

[macabrity]

Wackie is almost 1 male Betta unimaculata ‘Tanjung Pasir’ long!

Bonus:

[aquatic-obsession]

WACKIE!!!

[meowmoedotcom]

猫とチワワの新しい冒険！ 🐾✨外に出た事がなかった猫？

meowmoe.com

[aquariuminfobureau]

The stinkpot, Sternotherus odoratus, is one of the three most widely distributed turtle species of North America. For it is found in a swathe of that continent, from as far north as the southern parts of Ontario and Quebec, southwards to Florida and Texas, although not at high elevations. This distribution has also named them the common or eastern musk turtle. Both the names 'stinkpot' and 'musk turtle' refer to a pungently smelling secretion that this species and its kin may produce when stressed.

Stinkpots are averse to fast flowing rivers and streams, instead frequenting swamps and marshes, pools, ditches, rivers with slower currents, and lakes. This is strictly a freshwater turtle species, and it does not tolerate brackish environments. These turtles are burrowers, and thus they require a soft substrate, never occurring on hard bottoms, and they are also averse to dense reedbeds. Although they are strongly aquatic, stinkpots emerge to bask on wood, and are actually able to ascend sloping, partially submerged trunks or branches for this purpose.

Basking behavior in S. odoratus usually takes place in shallow water, rather than completely emersed Naturally they also lay their eggs out of the water, as do all the turtles. Big S. odoratus have a carapace length up to 14 centimeters, or under 6 inches, but sizes closer to 10 centimeters, or 4 inches, are much more commonly encountered. Female S. odoratus are slightly larger than the males.

The stinkpot is just one species within the genus Sternotherus, which is in turn but one genus, among the wider kinosternid or musk turtle clade. Musk turtles are a quintessential North American clade of turtles, although they have a fossil record in South America since the Pleistocene. Therefore musk turtles are among the land animals that took part in the Great American Biotic Interchange, involving the migrations and extinctions of North and South American faunas, around the time the land bridge of Panama formed between the two continents.

Musk turtles belong to a turtle clade called the kinosternoids, that make their first appearance in the Late Cretaceous of North America, as aquatic, bottom walking turtles in low energy freshwater environments, as opposed to frequenting higher energy river channels. Ever since the Cretaceous period, the ancestral musk turtles were benthic, ambulatory omnivores with a preference for consuming animal materials. Although by the Eocene, a side branch of kinosternoids, named the dermatemydids, shifted into a herbivore niche.

Sternotherus however belongs to their kinosternid sister group, which includes all of the other extant kinosternoids. Kinosternids possess an efficient anti-predator defence, which is to discharge foul repelling, repellant acids, contained within their namesake secretion, when they feel stressed. Sternotherus and its close relatives have a particularly reduced plastron, or belly armor, and they possesses a novel hinge at its front end.

Similar plastral hinges have independently evolved in unrelated turtle lineages. Although it is widely assumed that such plastral hinges evolve to help 'box in' the soft, exposed tissue of the turtles that possess such hinges, in Sternotherus the hinge serves the opposite function, favoring the mobility of their proportionally large head, and co-evolving with another defensive behavior, of gaping whilst their head is retracted. Only in the related genus Kinosternon, but not in Sternotherus, does the plastral kinesis serve as a partial seal.

Like the ancestral kinosternoids from the Cretaceous and Early Palaeogene strata, modern kinosternids such as Sternotherus have remained benthic walkers, rather than active swimmers. Unlike some other freshwater turtles, such as the sliders and cooters, Sternotherus are poorly buoyant. Not all aquatic tetrapods are swimmers, and the swimming of benthivorous foragers does not need be rapid for them to find food at the pond bottom.

In field studies S. odoratus were found to prefer an environmental temperature of 24 degrees centigrade, although over its wide range, different populations will surely have locally evolved to meet local climate conditions. They cease to feed when the temperature is below 13 degrees, or above 35 degrees. Exposing these turtles to any higher temperatures must definitely be avoided.

Studies of this turtle in the aquarium confirmed that they are most active, when the temperature is 21 to 26 degrees, with a broader temperature tolerance of 18 to 30 degrees. When the water temperature drops as low as 6 to 12 degrees, these turtles become dormant. Although this species is dormant through the winter, in most of its range, it remains active all year in Florida. Interestingly the body temperatures of basking stinkpots was found to be no warmer than the ambient water, suggesting reasons other than thermoregulation usually explain their basking behavior.

In the colder, northern extremity of their range, S. odoratus actually are reliant on optimal basking locations, suggesting the faculative presence of heliothermy in this species. Where the water temperature happens to be lower or higher than the surrounding air temperature, emersion will obviously warm or cool the turtle. An option of thermoregulation that is off limits to most fish for example.

Given the wide geographical range of S. odoratus, and of the habitats in which it is present, parameters of water chemistry, such as pH, are unsurprisingly variable where it lives. A pH that is reasonably circumneutral ought to suit this species well. In the wild S. odoratus are often sympatric with painted and common snapping turtles, and these three species of turtle can be considered as comprising a faunal assemblage together.

S. odoratus vary in their diel activity patterns, but they are primarily crepescular turtles, most usually active inbetween the daylight hours, and the night time. Both diurnal and truly nocturnal activities have also been observed. Foragers rather than hunters, S. odoratus walk along the bottom with their necks outstretched, probing their faces into sand, mud, and decaying vegetation, to locate their food by its scent.

Stinkpots are generalists among freshwater turtle species, their omnivotous dietary spectrum including the consumption of animal carrion, and vegetable matter including seeds. Stinkpots are also benthivores, equipped with mightily powerful jaw musculature, and they are able to crack armoured prey.

Animals that they consume as they forage, include gastropods and bivalves, insects, and crayfishes. Almost all vertebrate material that stinkpots consume, is already or nearly deceased when the turtle recognizes it as food. They consume freshly dead items of carrion, but not those that are in advanced stages of decay.

S. odoratus will consume algae wafers, but 4/5 of their diet should be from appropriate animal food sources. This can be provided in sinking or defrosted form, or sometimes as fresh items from the fishmongers. Unlike many turtles they will normally refuse to eat green vegetables such as lettuce.

A common problem for pet turtle fanciers, is that most of the commonly traded turtle species grow too big after they are purchased at small sizes. Most species of musk turtle remain appealingly small when they are at mature growth, but as with other slowly ambulatory freshwater turtles, they will still require a tank footprint that is five times by three and a half times their carapace length. It's depth should be more than the length of their carapace, lest they fall on their backs and need to right themselves.

S. odoratus like to climb up to the water surface, rather than swim upwards, although they can actually swim competently enough. And although gaseous exchange occurs underwater, involving their skin surface and specializations of their tongue and throat surfaces, they must also be able to access atmospheric air. Allowing them access to the surface by clambering on sloping wood, is therefore mandatory. They do not need a true aquaterrarium with a land portion, but they should be able to surface and emerse.

Partially emersed and climbable wood decor, and a soft substrate at the bottom, constitute an ecologically appropriate aquascape for housing S. odoratus. Some live plants are likely to be eaten or dug up, though they aren't the most destructive of turtle species in a planted tank, and their consumption of green vascular plant material is relatively limited. Over the emersed basking spot, a basking lamp can be provided, but is not neccessary. Like humans, stinkpots benefit from UVB wavelengths, but they also uptake vitamin D from their food.

Adult stinkpots cohabit well enough with certain other species of turtle, as the painted turtles, cooters and sliders, and also North American softshells. They can however be aggressive towards each other, and to related turtle species, especially when the turtles involved are males. Large, healthy, powerful fish are also suitable cohabitants alongside these turtles, but small fish might well be taken whilst sleeping or otherwise sluggish. Although musk turtles are not efficient pursuit predators, the danger to small fishes is there, and such cohabitation cannot be condoned.

[herpsandbirds]

Common Musk Turtle aka Stinkpot Turtle (Sternotherus odoratus), family Kinosternidae, DE, USA

The name comes from a nasty smelling musk, which musk turtles can expel out of their back end.

photograph by Wyatt Keil

[gently-morbid]

Stinkpot Turtle (Sternotherus odoratus) caught and released for a turtle study in a local bayou

Edit: For those curious, this species does have a unique smell. I wouldn’t say it’s awful, but it is strong. In my opinion, it smells like the overpriced soap you can find in any Earthbound Trading Co. It’s a musky/earthy smell.

Another notable thing about this species is its attitude. Stinkpots are very feisty when handled. Most turtles fight being handled, but Stinkpots are known for putting up an unexpectedly big fight for such teeny turtles. This attitude is one of my favorite things about them.

[mostlyvoid-partiallyturtles]

Pictures I took yesterday of my family-friends’ turtle Waffles :]

She’s an Eastern Aquatic Musk Turtle (Sternotherus odoratus)!

[broke-but-cozy]

Baby Sternotherus odoratus caught by one of my students during an outing 💚🐢

[theperfumist]

Part One How Musk is made? It is a question that the Perfumist gets consistently asked, is your musk oil pure musk? Before we answer this we have to first understand what musk is, as rarely any house or company try to explain this to their clients and many just put the label (real musk) on their products or try the symbolize the idea that they used natural products without explaining what musk is and how they use it. For the house of the Perfumist, Musk is a natural substance with dark/black color that usually has a strong odor and is used by animals for mating and attraction as the scent of the musk has strong pheromones that usually the male animal produces to attract the females in the mating season. Even though musk can refer to many substances such as the African musk or civet, or various synthetic musks whose compound exhibits some character of deer musk. other animals also produce musk in very small amounts that are not sufficient to be used in perfumery or medicine such animals are muskox, the musk shrew, the musk beetle (Aromia moschata), the musk turtle (Sternotherus odoratus), the American alligator of North America. When we speak about Musk here we speak specifically about the deer musk or the seven species of deer musk which are 1- Moschiferus or what is also knowns as the Russian musk or the Siberian musk deer which lives in Northeast Asia 2- Anhuiensis or the Chinese musk Anhui musk deer, which lives in Eastern China 3- Berezovskii or the Dwarf musk deer or what is known as the Tonkin musk that exists in South China and Northern Vietnam 4- Fuscus or the Black musk deer or what is known as the Himalayan musk which lives in Eastern Himalayas, is little different and hardly distinguished from the following one 5- Chrysogaster or the Alpine musk deer which is not white in color and has a slightly different shape which lives in Eastern Himalayas 6- Cupreus or Kashmir musk deer, also known as the Indian musk or the Assam Musk exists in Western Himalayas and Hindu Kush region. 7- leucogaster or the White-bellied musk deer distinguished for its white dotted belly and these species exist in Central Himalayas. . . . #theperfumist (at Houston, Texas) https://www.instagram.com/p/CnP8clPOIZ7/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[lovingexotics]

Stinkpot Turtle Sternotherus odoratus Source: Here

[aquatic-obsession]

guys you’ll never believe this but they made cats that swim

[meowmoedotcom]

誰もいなくなると急に不安になる猫 #チワワ ＃ねこ #cat #chihuahua

meowmoe.com

[humanbyweight]

Here is a Common Musk Turtle, formulating a grand escape plan.

Here is a Common Musk Turtle, executing a grand escape plan.

[herpsandbirds]

Are you able to identify this turtle? Found in Northern Georgia, USA. I did very gently remove it from the parking lot after taking this picture.

Turtle ID - GA, USA:

Henlo, yesss, this friend is a Common Musk Turtle aka Stinkpot Turtle (Sternotherus odoratus), family Kinosternidae.

Sternotherus odoratus - Wikipedia

[brerfly]

Fallie and I went to visit an old friend today. He is doing well.