REPTILIAN TUESDAY # 20

REPTILIAN TUESDAY # 20

Happy 2012 everyone! We hope all our fans and supporters had a fabulous holiday! We’re back with loads of fun and fresh ideas! We’ll be celebrating animal holidays, coming up with crafts and having theme weeks once a month! We look forward to sharing all this fun, adventure and education with you! First up in 2012, a small turtle from Africa! Who wants to meet this cute little reptile? We do!

MEET THE AFRICAN HELMETED TURTLE!

Range/Habitat: Africa (South of Sahara)/ marshes, watering holes and rain pools

Diet: Omnivore: frogs, mollusks, invertebrates

Length: 6-7”

Conservation Status: common

Fun Facts:

• African Helmeted Turtles have flat carapaces (top shells).
• They are very slow and sluggish, even for turtles.
• African helmeted turtles have glands that release a strong musky odor when they are threatened by predators.
• They are also called the marsh terrapin.
• African helmeted turtles aestivate during the dry season. Aestivation is a period of inactivity.

These tiny little turtles sure are neat, but be careful they can be a bit stinkyJ! But then again being stinky can be good, if it helps you keep predators away! Would you like to be stinky?