Stinkpot Turtle

I.D. Features:

• Very small (Ontario's tiniest turtle)- smaller than a hand

  

• Makes a bad smell when handled, and generally as it stays mostly in water
• Tipped protruding and tiny nose
• High domed carapace (top-shell)
• Light olive to black
• Their plastron (bottom shell) is small, yellow-brown and gives little protection to legs; a "hinge" runs across the front of plastron allowing it to close upward to protect head

Habitat Features:

• Highly aquatic, rarely seen basking out of water
• Found in shallow bays, ponds, marshes and streams where they can stay under the water but still feel the heat of the sun
• Eats aquatic insects
• Sometimes when they do come out of the water they are known to climb trees up to 6 feet high, but when they fall asleep they often fall out

Range (Ontario Nature Reptile Atlas):