photo credit: John White

Chicken Turtle

Size:  From 4 to 6 inches (10-15.2 cm) in length.
Description:  The most visible characteristics of Chicken Turtles are the netlike patterns on its carpace and its long and striped neck.  Vertical stripes run down the hind legs of these turtles.  The carpace is much longer than it is wide and is colored anywhere between olive and black.  The plastron is hingeless and colored yellow/orange.  Females are usually larger than males.
Behavior:  Despite their usual aquatic nature, they can often be seen walking around on land.
Habitat:  Any freshwater environment with sluggish or still waterways.
Range:  Found throughout the southeast.  In North Carolina they are only found in the southeastern Coastal Plain.

Range of the Chicken Turtle in the Carolinas and Virginia