Red-eared Sliders and Painted Turtles

Here are a couple pictures both featuring a Red-eared Slider and a Painted Turtle. In both these pictures the slider is the larger turtle; although sliders are on average bigger, there are plenty of Painted Turtles bigger than the average slider.

I'm told the sliders are more aggressive than painteds, though I haven't actually witnesses that for myself. I've never actually seen a turtle fight/dispute. Though turtles do have claws, it's unclear to me they've got the strength or quickness in their limbs to be slashing each other up very often. It does sound like males of both turtles will use their claws to impress females and intimidate rivals.

I know people have studied pecking orders around bird feeders, carcasses, etc. AFAIK no one has documented a pecking order regarding basking spots. Still, good basking spots are a limited resource, so I wouldn't be shocked to learn that size/aggressiveness differences result in some turtles getting the best spots.

May 5, 2023 at Duke Island Park
Photo 282298412, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

May 5, 2023 at Duke Island Park
Photo 282298649, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)


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