Return of the Ninja Turtles!

[David]

Hi All - I came across this little creature, ca. 1 foot in length, in my local park, Bramhall Hall. I think it's some species of turtle, probably cast out after the Ninja Turtle craze died a death a few years ago. I think he's a Donatello, on the basis that that is the only name I can remember.



The shooting conditions were not good, with bright overhead sun, casting a dark shadow under the belly. Thus, I took three shots, metered and +/- 2 stops and combined via Photomatix Pro (dynamic range 9.3 EV); some further, high-pass, sharpening and a slight crop via the Gimp to give this image. Canon 40D with Sigma Apo 70-300mm lens at 300 mm and f/22, tripod.

Donatello did not appear to move whilst these shots were taken, but subsequently dived (if that is the correct word for a slo-mo turtle splash) into the lake and swam off.

If anyone knows the specific species I would be grateful.

Cheers

David

[Jim B.]

Looks like a box turtle of some kind.We have a turtle here in the eastern US that looks a lot like this one(semi-aquatic),but they don't have the orange strips.My guess is it's going to be a "painted" species of box turtle.
Here's a site that might help you.
http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/wor...s/index-2.html

Ton of pictures there.

[revi]

Yep, looks like one of the turtles that were quite popular as a pet, before they grew up... Then they were released in the wild, where they can do quite some damage if they manage to survive (winter tends to kill them in Europe, afaik)

[David]

Jim - Thanks for the suggestion - a box turtle. Another friend suggested it's a red-eared terrapin. I've looked at images for both the box and the red-eared and so far the red-eared seems neared, particularly with the markings on the under belly. However, the colours on the shell do not appear to match.

Cheers

David