Happy Wild Turtle Week! Wild Turtle Week is a week-long celebration of turtles led by the Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation, the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. For more information visit the Wild Turtle Week website.
Iowa is home to 13 turtle species; western painted turtle, snapping turtle, midland smooth softshell turtle, eastern spiny softshell turtle, red-eared slider, northern map turtle, Ouachita map turtle, northern false map turtle, ornate box turtle, Blanding’s turtle, wood turtle, eastern musk turtle, and yellow mud turtle.
Many of Iowa’s turtle species are aquatic or semi-aquatic, living in lakes, ponds, rivers, streams, marshes, and wetlands while ornate box turtles are primarily terrestrial, meaning they spend nearly all of their life on land, often in prairie areas.
Iowa's Most Familiar Turtles
Western painted turtles, snapping turtles, and eastern spiny softshell turtles are widespread across the state and are turtles you may be likely to encounter.
- Western painted turtles get their name from their bright coloration and can be identified by their yellow/orange plastron (meaning the bottom of their shell) that has a yellow/orange design outlined in black.
- Snapping turtle adults are typically large with a large head in comparison to their body with a large, sharp, beak. Snapping turtles have a very distinctive appearance with a dark brown to black carapace (meaning the top of their shell) that has spikes at the back, a long tail with bumps along the top, and a reduced plastron with a tan or yellow color.
- Eastern spiny softshell turtles get their name from their soft and flexible shell which has short spines along the upper portion near their head. This is one way they can be distinguished from the similar-looking smooth softshell turtle. They have a very long neck with a long, narrow, snout and large webbed feet. Eastern spiny softshell turtles often have circular markings on their carapace.
Turtle Conservation Challenges
Many of Iowa’s turtle species are in decline due to threats such as habitat loss and road mortalities. Since most of Iowa’s turtles spend part or much of their lives in or near water, they depend on healthy streams, rivers, ponds, wetlands, and lakes. Turtles are long-lived animals and take a long time to reach reproductive age, with few young turtles reaching that age. Therefore, the loss of even a few adult turtles from an area can be very detrimental to a local population. All of Iowa’s turtles besides painted turtles and red-eared sliders are identified in Iowa’s State Wildlife Action Plan as species of greatest conservation need. Blanding’s turtles, ornate box turtles, and eastern musk turtles are listed as state threatened and wood turtles and yellow mud turtles are listed as state endangered, meaning it is illegal to kill or collect these species.
What can you do to help Iowa's turtles?
Contribute to non-game wildlife conservation through the Chickadee Checkoff, buy a Natural Resources License Plate, or donate directly to the Wildlife Diversity Program.
Avoid hitting turtles in the roadway and move them out of the roadway if it is safe for you to help them. Make sure to never pick up a turtle by the tail as this can damage their spine and only handle snapping turtles if you know how to safely and properly handle them. Make sure to always move the turtle across the road in the direction they were headed and never take a turtle with you to a different location. For more information on helpful tips for moving turtles out of the road check out this article from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Plant and create more habitat! You can take steps to make your property or yard more wildlife friendly and even if it doesn’t benefit turtles directly there are also many indirect benefits. Follow along this year with our Wildlife Where You Live series to learn more about how you can take steps to benefit wildlife on your property. Iowa DNR’s private lands program has staff that help advise private landowners about possible conservation practices that could be implemented on their lands. This includes wetland restoration, restoring and establishing grasslands, and forestry practices.
Want to learn more about turtles in Iowa?
Check out iowaherps.com or herpnet.net to learn more about Iowa’s turtle species!