Red-eared Slider — printable fact sheet
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Red-eared Slider
Trachemys scripta elegans
Trachemys scripta elegans is native to a modest slice of the Mississippi and Rio Grande drainages and is now, thanks to the pet trade, one of the world's 100 worst invasive species, established on every continent except Antarctica. Millions of hatchlings were sold as thumbnail-s…
Did you know?
- Red-eared sliders can recognize their keepers and may beg for food by swimming excitedly at the edge of their enclosure.
- A slider must be in water to swallow — it cannot generate the tongue movement needed to move food down its throat in air, so it drags every mouthful into the pond. The courtship display, in which a male swims backwards in front of the female while vibrating his long front claws against her cheeks, is one of the most stereotyped in reptiles and is the easiest way to sex an adult. Feral red-eared sliders have established breeding populations as far north as Germany and Poland, warmer summers having pushed their nests over the incubation threshold.
What I learned
Draw the red-eared slider
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