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Bog turtles are North America's smallest turtle, growing between 3 to 4.5 inches long.
These turtles only live in the eastern United States, mostly in the Appalachian Mountains, and are very hard to find. Bog turtles hibernate in deep mud from early fall to spring and bury themselves in mud when threatened.
Why are Bog turtles threatened?
Bog turtles are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act because their habitat is rapidly disappearing and remaining patches are fragmented by roads and other infrastructure. In fact, wetlands across the country are threatened by pollution, fragmentation and conversion to agriculture, severely harming rare species like the bog turtle.
Bogs provide important habitat not just for bog turtles but also for many migratory songbirds, rare plants and game species. They also act as environmental "sponges," helping to filter pollutants out of groundwater, and moderate the impacts of both droughts and floods. Farmers can restore and improve this valuable habitat by not ditching their bogs, controlling the intensity of livestock grazing, preventing tree and shrub overgrowth, and removing non-native invasive plants.
A large percentage of freshwater habitat has been drained and converted to farmland. Invasive plants, such as the purple loosestrife from Asia and Africa, are crowding in. Pollution of waterways impacts siltation and water quality, and poachers capture and sell these turtles in the illegal pet trade.
Defenders' Impact
Through a collaborative effort with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Services, Defenders has worked directly on the ground with landowners to develop restoration and conservation plans for their bogs and connect them with financial resources to support best management practices that help protect bog turtles.
Similarly, we are working in partnership through a U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service grant to develop landowner outreach and law enforcement officer training programs to protect and restore habitat and curb poaching.
Defenders is also a member of the Bog Learning Network, which focuses on protection and restoration of mountain bogs and all their native species. As a member of the Wetland Forest Initiative, we are part of a 14-state coalition of partners dedicated to preserving critical wetland forest ecosystems. Through these partnerships, we are developing approaches to strategic intervention to save bogs threatened by agriculture and development and protect the wildlife that rely on this important habitat.
What You Can Do
If you live near bog turtle habitat, limit pesticide use to prevent polluting waterways and plant native plants to hinder the introduction of non-native invasives to natural areas. Report bog turtle sightings and suspected poaching anonymously through the FWS website. Support groups like Defenders, who are working to protect bog turtles and their habitats.
About
The northern bog turtle population stretches from New York and western Massachusetts south to Maryland and the southern population occurs in the Appalachians.
Bog turtles prefer open, unpolluted emergent and scrub/shrub wetlands such as shallow spring-fed fens, sphagnum bogs, swamps, marshy meadows and wet pastures. Mountain bogs are isolated wetlands with acidic, wet soil, deep mud layers, thick mosses, high humidity and sunny spaces.
Current populations are unknown but estimates range from 2,500 to 10,000.
Bog turtles depend upon a diversity of micro-habitats for foraging, nesting, basking and sheltering. They are secretive, often living in tunnels in mud. During winter, bog turtles go dormant in deeper areas of bogs.
Nesting Season: May to September
Gestation: 1 to 2 months
Clutch size: One to five eggs
Bog turtles are generalist omnivores and eat what is locally available in their habitat. This can give them an advantage because if one food source is not available, they have other options. Bog turtles’ preferred foods are invertebrates — including insects, worms and slugs — as well as amphibians. They also eat seeds, fruit, carrion and plants like pondweed, watercress and skunk cabbage.
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