Native to the United States and Canada

Blanding’s turtle

Emydoidea blandingii

Data updated October 2026

Blanding's turtle stretching its neck to show a bright yellow chin and throat
Fig. 1 — The bright yellow chin and throat can be seen from a long way off.
Top view of a Blanding's turtle's dark domed shell speckled with yellow spots
Fig. 2 — The high, dark shell is flecked with yellow spots and dashes.

At a glance

A long-lived wetland turtle of the Great Lakes region, upper Midwest and New England, best known for its bright yellow throat and hinged lower shell. It can live 70 years or more but does not breed until its teens or later, so losing even a few adults hurts a population.

01

Identification

Blanding’s turtles have an oval, high-domed upper shell, dark brown or black and covered in yellow spots or short bars. The long head and neck stand out, and the underside of the chin and neck is bright yellow. The upper jaw may have dark marks that look like a mustache. The lower shell is yellow with large dark blotches on the outer edge of each plate, and its front third is hinged, so the turtle can pull it partly closed against the upper shell.

  1. 01Yellow throat. A bright yellow chin and neck, visible from a distance.
  2. 02Spotted dome. A high, helmet-like dark shell sprinkled with yellow flecks.
  3. 03Hinged lower shell. The front third of the plastron moves, letting it close up partway like a box turtle.

Commonly confused with

Box turtles can close their shells completely and live mostly on land. Spotted turtles are much smaller, with round yellow spots and no yellow throat.

02

Size

02 in4 in6 in8 in10 in12 in Typical adult · about 8 in (20 cm) shell

Adults usually have an upper shell 6 to 9 inches (15–23 cm) long, and a few reach about 11 inches (28 cm).

03

Range & habitat

Shallow cattail marsh with lily pads and muskrat lodges
Fig. 3 — Shallow marshes with soft mud and thick plants are home base for Blanding’s turtles.

Blanding’s turtles range from southern Ontario and southern Quebec through the Great Lakes states to Iowa, with isolated populations in Nova Scotia, New England and New York. Smaller outlying populations occur in Nebraska, South Dakota and Missouri, where they are found only in the far northeast and northwest corners. USFWS lists them in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

They need both wetlands and uplands. Favorite spots are calm, shallow marshes and ponds with muddy bottoms and thick plants such as cattails and water lilies, along with shrub swamps, bogs, prairie wetlands, slow streams and ditches. They also use small, fishless wetlands that dry up in late summer. Adults may travel more than a mile between wetlands and to nest sites, which makes roads a serious hazard.

04

Diet & predators

Blanding’s turtles are omnivores that forage in shallow water. In northeastern Missouri they eat crayfish, aquatic insect larvae, some land insects, fish and frogs. Where crayfish are scarce, as in one Illinois wetland, snails and aquatic insects make up most of the diet. Temporary wetlands full of breeding amphibians and invertebrates are important feeding areas.

Feeds on

  • Crayfish
  • Aquatic insects and larvae
  • Snails
  • Fish and frogs

Preyed on by

  • Raccoons
  • Foxes
  • Skunks (nests)
  • Other nest predators
Crayfish in shallow marsh water
Prey — crayfish.
Raccoon at a wetland edge
Predator — raccoon.

05

Behavior & seasons

Blanding’s turtles start basking in late March or early April on warm, sunny days, and they are more easily spooked off a basking log than most turtles. Adults and young move between wetlands from April to November, with peaks in June and July and again in September and October. When picked up, they pull in and clamp the hinged front of the lower shell shut.

They spend winter buried in mud at the bottom of deeper marshes and ponds, settling in by late October or November.

06

Reproduction

Mating takes place mostly from April to early June. In June, females travel overland, sometimes up to a mile, to nest in open, sunny, sandy or well-drained ground such as fields, prairies, levees and road shoulders. They are most active at nest sites in late afternoon and at dusk. Clutches usually hold 6 to 15 eggs, with 3 to 25 reported. The eggs hatch after about 65 to 90 days, from mid-August to early October. Most nest predation happens within two days of laying. Females do not mature until about 14 to 20 years old or later, one reason the species is so slow to recover.

07

Conservation

According to USFWS, the agency is reviewing the status of the Blanding’s turtle to determine whether it warrants listing under the Endangered Species Act; it is not currently federally listed. In 2015, USFWS issued a substantial 90-day finding on a petition to list the species, which triggered that in-depth status review. Many states protect it: it is endangered in Missouri and threatened in Minnesota. Threats include loss of wetlands and nesting habitat, road deaths during seasonal travel, growing numbers of nest predators, and illegal collection for the pet trade. US endangered reptiles

Keep reading

Sources

Data updated October 2026 · How we build these pages