
Species Identification:
Wood Turtles are a medium sized turtle. Adult carapace (top shell) length ranges from 16 cm to 25 cm, and is typically grayish brown or yellowish. The Wood Turtle’s top shell has ridges that give it a sculpted, wood-like appearance. The plastron (bottom shell) is yellow with black spots on outer edges. Their skin is generally brown but often their legs, neck and chin can have an orange or reddish-yellow colouring. The Wood Turtle’s feet are slightly webbed and have large claws. Males are generally larger than females, and they have a longer and thicker tail and concave plastron.
Diet:
Wood Turtles are opportunistic omnivores, but they rely on vegetation and forage more on land than other Ontario turtle species. Wood Turtles like to eat berries, herbaceous plants, mushrooms, soft-bodied invertebrates (especially worms and slugs), amphibian larvae, and carrion.

Biology and Behaviour:
Wood Turtles emerge from hibernation in the spring once the ice melts and it is warm enough to bask. They are philopatric, which means they use the same general home range throughout the year and also from year to year. Home range size varies based on a Wood Turtle’s age, sex, and distance to nesting and hibernation sites. The males' home range tends to be larger and more linear since they prefer to stay closer to rivers. Females tend to have broader (less linear) home ranges and are more likely to move away from rivers in the summer.
Males are also very territorial and will display dominance hierarchies with other male Wood Turtles. More dominant males will mate with more females than the less dominant and usually smaller/younger males. They mostly forage for food on land, and they will bask on land in the sun to thermoregulate without wasting too much energy, especially in cooler months after coming out of overwintering sites. Wood Turtles are usually found basking near rivers and streams. They are active during the day, but most active in the morning and evening.
They mate throughout their active season, which is April to September, but most commonly in spring and fall. Females will migrate to nesting areas and may stay in their staging area next to their nesting site for several days to a few weeks before nesting. They will dig their nests in late May to early July. Nesting can occur throughout the day or night depending on the weather conditions, but it usually occurs in the evening. She will dig her nest in sand or gravel beaches or banks, as well as road shoulders, gravel pits, and railway beds. Females will lay one clutch a year, and the number of eggs can vary from 1 – 20 eggs. Unlike most turtles, sex determination is genetic, not temperature based.



Wood Turtles hibernate under the water in streams and rivers from roughly October to late April. They will either hibernate alone or communally with other Wood Turtles, or even other turtle species. Overwintering sites are usually on the bottom of deep pools, often with fallen debris that provide structure that prevents dislodging during potential high flooding events.
Main predators of adults include Raccoons, Striped Skunks, Coyotes, Mink, River Otters, Red Foxes, and Ravens. Main predators of hatchlings are large fish species and birds like the Great Blue Heron. Eggs are commonly predated on by Raccoons, Striped Skunks, and Red Foxes.
Similar Species:
- The only other native Ontario turtle species with a sculpted shell is a Snapping Turtle, but they are much more aquatic and can be distinguished by their long and spiked tail
- Blanding’s and Spotted Turtles can have similar looking plastrons and yellow and orange colouring, but they have smooth carapaces and Blanding’s have a bright yellow chin

Conservation and recovery strategies:
The Federal Government has deemed the recovery of the Wood Turtle as feasible. They acknowledge that road development, agriculture, and urbanization are the main threats to this species. In order for the Wood Turtle to once again thrive, the government would need to restrict road development in important habitat areas, and reduce road mortality by identifying road mortality hotspots, putting up signs, and reducing speed limits in these areas. Increasing the amount of Provincial and Federal protected lands is needed, especially in areas of known Wood Turtle habitat. Currently, only 10% of turtle habitat in Canada is found in Provincial and Federal parks. Currently, recovery strategies are restoring and protecting habitat , specifically forested river habitats through land acquisition, stewardship, restoration projects and in partnership with other organizations and the public. However, more needs to be done soon to stop development projects, especially along shorelines.
Quick Facts:
- A cool foraging strategy Wood Turtles have is called “worm stomping”, where they stomp their forefeet and plastron on the ground in order to attract earthworms up to the surface or to flush them out of the leaf litter
- They display “anting behavior”, which means they will allow ants to remove organisms on their body, and they will also remain still in water when being cleaned by the small minnow species
- For first 25 years they can be aged using growth ridges on their carapace (top shell)


Additional Resources:
- Fact sheet on Wood Turtles by the State of Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection
- Fact sheet on Wood turtles by the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife
- Pamphlet on facilitating recovery of Wood Turtles in Nova Scotia
- Ontario Nature page on the Wood Turtle
- COSEWIC 2018 Assessment and Report on the Wood Turtle
Sources:
Kaufmann, J.H., 1986. Stomping for earthworms by wood turtles, Clemmys insculpta: a newly discovered foraging technique. Copeia, 1986(4), pp.1001-1004.
McCurdy, D.G. and Herman, T.B., 1997. Putative Anting Behavior in Wood Turtles. Herpetological Review, 28(3), pp.127-127.
Kaufmann, J.H. 1991. Clemmys insculpta (Wood Turtle) cleaning symbiosis. Herpetological Review 22(3):98
Kaufmann, 1992. The social behaviour of wood turtles Clemmys insculpta in central Pennsylvania. Herpetol Monog.
Galbraith DA 1991. Studies of mating systems in wood turtles Clemmys inscuplta and snapping turtles Chelydra serpentina using DNA fingerprinting. Phd thesis. Queens University.
Thompson, D.G., T. Swystun, J. Cross, R.L. Cross, D. Chartrand, and C.B. Edge. 2018. Fine- and coarse-scale movements and habitat use by Wood Turtles (Glyptemys insculpta) based on probabilistic modeling of radio- and GPS-telemetry data. Canadian Journal of Zoology
SARA. 2016. Wood turtle (Glyptemys insculpta): proposed recovery strategy 2016. Species at Risk Act. Retrieved from https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/species-risk-public-registry/recovery-strategies/wood-turtle-proposed-2016.html
COSEWIC. 2018. Wood Turtle (Glyptemys insculpta): COSEWIC assessment and status report 2018. Committee On the Status of Endangered Wildlife In Canada. Retrieved from https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/species-risk-public-registry/cosewic-assessments-status-reports/wood-turtle-2018.html