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Mud turtles live in the ground layer on the bed of bodies of slowly-flowing or still water. By burrowing deeply into mud, mud turtles are protected from danger. They occasionally like to bask in the sun.
The underside of the turtle can be brown, grey, black, or yellow. The upper jaw has a blunt, smooth shape. The head of an adult is generally uniform in color. As in all side-necked turtles, the neck retracts the head sideways instead of vertically into the shell. [4] This species may be confused with the West African mud turtle.
Mud turtles prefer ponds that have a lot of vegetation. These animals can generally be found in spring-fed streams, and they prefer clean, oxygenated water. The Eastern mud turtle rarely basks, but in the instance they do, they will bask on rocks or debris floating on the surface of the water. [ 10 ]
The Kinosternidae are a family of mostly small turtles that includes the mud turtles and musk turtles. The family contains 25 species within four genera, but taxonomic reclassification is an ongoing process, so many sources vary on the exact numbers of species and subspecies.
The African mud turtles range from being small in size, only 12 cm (4.7 in) carapace length for adult Pelusios nanus, to moderately large, 46 cm (18 in) for adult Pelusios sinuatus, while the large majority of species fall between 20 and 30 cm (7.9 and 11.8 in) carapace length. [5]
The West African mud turtle is carnivorous and feeds on aquatic prey. There are five phases to feeding; preliminary head fixation on the prey, fine-tuning the head fixation, final approach by the head, grasping of the prey followed by manipulation and transportation, and suction, resulting in ingestion after which the prey is swallowed.
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The rough-footed mud turtle (Kinosternon hirtipes) [1] is a species of mud turtle in the family Kinosternidae. The species is endemic to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico . Geographic range