Red-eared Pond Turtle courtship - D40x - 7-16-09 by Leeco

Photography • Animals • posted on Aug 08, 2009

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Description

Here is the set-up: the female is on the left (females are usually bigger than the males). The male is trying to impress her. He maneuvers himself into a face-to-face position with her, then he pulls in his neck and extends his front legs as far as possible. He then vibrates his front feet creating water ripples that move past the female's ears. If he does this in a manner she approves of they then dive to the bottom and mate. Most of the time she ignores him completely and goes about her regular activities. He is doggedly persistent and does this daily and repeatedly for weeks at a time. It is quite amusing to watch him try to catch up with her, then get into the face to face position. Often she turns or just keeps swimming forward, at which times he desperately attempts to swim backwards so as to maintain the position - turtles are not designed to swim backwards gracefully, lol. On a side note - if you look at the female's eye, you will notice a horizontal pupil slit. No matter what position a Red-eared turtle puts its head into, this slit will always be horizontal. Their eyes actually revolve in their head to maintain this slit orientation. Thanks to those who take the time to comment. Lee