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Turtles

To make it easier to picture the peninsula cooter turtle and the red-eared slider turtle in the wild, browse the images below.

 

The peninsula cooter (pseudemys peninsularis) can be found throughout most of peninsular Florida, in nearly any freshwater body of water from rivers and streams to lakes and ponds. They like freshwater with sandy bottoms, abundant basking sites and lots of submerged vegetation to feed upon and can grow up to 13" in length.

The red-eared slider (trachemys scripta elegans) is indigenous to the United States, from Missouri in the north, to Ohio and West Virginia in the east, south to Alabama, western Georgia and the panhandle of Florida, and west to eastern New Mexico, Texas, and south of the Rio Grande River into northeastern Mexico. Also known as the red-eared terrapin, It is the most popular pet turtle in the United States.​

Foolhardy Turtle

A turtle takes a precarious position sunning this close to an alligator's mouth in Tampa, Florida's Lettuce Lake Park.

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Spotted With Moss

A peninsula cooter warms itself on a log in Tampa, Florida's Lettuce Lake Park.

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Red-Eared Slider

A red-eared slider suns itself on a rock on the edge of Lakeland, Florida's Lake Morton.

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Turtle Jenga

A group of river turtles sitting one on top of the other in Tampa, Florida's Lettuce Lake Park. I see a lot of turtles here but this iis the first time that I've seen them stack themselves like this.

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Basking Turtles

A group of turtles basking on a log in Tampa, Florida's Lettuce Lake Park.

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Totally Relaxed

A turtle basks on a log in Tampa, Florida's Lettuce Lake Park.

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Peninsula Trio

A trio of peninsula cooters bask on a log in the oxbow of Tampa, Florida's Lettuce lake Park.

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Close Call

This turtle survived a run-in with a gator trying to make it a meal with only scratches on its shell at Lettuce lake Park in Tampa, Florida.

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Cooter At Rest

This peninsula cooter turtle (pseudemys peninsularis) was resting on a log in Lettuce Lake Park in Tampa, Florida.

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Enough Diving for Now

This palm sized turtle climbed onto this piece of wood to catch its breath after feeding on the bottom of the Hillsborough River in Lattuce Lake Park, in Tampa, Florida.

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The Hangout

So, this is where the big boys hang out! I couldn't resist the contrast in size.

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Peninsula Cooter

Peninsula cooter by boardwalk in Lettuce Lake Park in Tampa, Florida.

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