STINKPOT

No surprise, I have been called a stinkpot on numerous occasions.  The real stinkpot is Sternotherus odoratus.  It is a small, carnivorous turtle that … stinks!  Even their species name, odoratus, stinks!  But, they don’t stink all the time.  Their smell is an antipredator device that they release from a small gland on the ventral side (underside).  These turtles are mostly aquatic and really only leave the water to bask in the sunshine or lay eggs.  Because of their small size (up to 5.5 inches) they are sometimes used as pet turtles.  Some of these are from the wild (boo…hiss) while others are captive-bred.  I’m not a big fan of removing animals from the wild to make them pets.  My personal bias is that they have an ecological job to do and we should let them do it.