How to know if a turtle is male or female?

Turtles or quelonios are reptiles of the Order Testudines.Animals are characterized by having their body enclosed in a shell, from which their legs, tail and head come out.As in so many reptiles, the genital organs of the turtles are not visible to the naked eye, so it is difficult to know if they are female or males.

Many people have turtles as pets, but it should be clarified that are not pets and that they may have certain unmet needs when they live with us, in addition to the problems of health derived from improper management.

It is legal to have certain species of turtles as a pet, but many of them are already considered invasive species due to damage caused in autochthonous ecosystems due to irresponsible possession and subsequent abandonment, in most cases by the size that These animals reach, apparently, implantable when purchased with a size less than 5 centimeters.

In this article of Animals and Pets Online we will show you how to differentiate a male or female turtle .

How to distinguish a male or female turtle?

Determining the sex of a turtle is a very complicated task, since its sexual organs are not exposed.For a turtle, being male or female is genetically determined but, according to the temperature at which the embryos develop, there will be more abundance of females or males.

To know what we should look at when establishing the sex of a turtle, the first thing we should know is the species to which it belongs.Each species of turtle It has different characteristics when it comes to sex.Therefore, first of all, we must find out what species we are dealing with.After this, we must attend to certain parts of the body such as the shell, the tail , the anal notch or the plastron.

Body size

Like other groups of reptiles, such as lizards and snakes, turtles have a wide range of sexual dimorphism (differences between the sexes), although females have a larger size in most cases, for example, females of the Emydidae family such as the yellow-eared turtle ( Trachemys scripta scripta ), the Geoemydidae family as the leper galapago ( Mauremys leprosa ) and the Trionychidae family or soft shell turtles.

Males tend to be larger when we talk about species belonging to the Testudinidae family such as the Mediterranean turtle ( Testudo hermanni ) or the Kinosternidae family as Sternotherus carinatus , a very common panton turtle in the United States, where it is more popular as a pet than red-eared turtles ( Trachemys scripta elegans ).

When females are larger than males, this difference is between 50 and 60 percent, while in females ecies where males are larger, the difference does not usually exceed 20 or 30 percent.

Plastron Concavity

In certain species, such as the Florida turtle ( Gopherus polyphemus ) and other species of the Testudinidae family, such as the blackberry turtle ( Testudo graeca ), the degree of concavity of the plastron is an important characteristic for determining sex.The plastron is the lower shell of the turtle and the concavity is located in the back, more or less between the hind legs.

In males, this gap is more pronounced than in females, but the difference is usually not more than 1 millimeter in many cases, so the eye of the observer must be very trained to see the difference.

Shell size and shape

Many species of European turtles usually have differences in the shell depending on whether they are male or female.Yes, it seems that the shell of the males is usually wider and with a triangular finish, which would give more stability when copulating.On the other hand, plastron has two protuberances that are more marked in males than in females, giving more freedom of movement to the tail.

Also discover in Animals and Pets Online how to know the age of a turtle.

Size of the tail

In most turtle species, the tail is usually longer in males and wider at its base, because inside the penis must be housed.On the other hand, the sewer (organ of the reptiles where there is access to excretory and reproductive devices) is closer to the tip of the tail in males and closer to the base in females.

Anal notch

The anal notch is the distance that exists, looking at the plastron of a turtle, that is, its "belly", between the end of the plastron and the end of the shell.In males, this anal notch is usually greater than in females for many species of land turtles, since they must have greater freedom of movement so that the tail and, therefore, the penis, reach the sexual organ of the female.

Maybe you are interested in discovering how turtles reproduce.

PCR analysis

The most effective way to determine the sex of a turtle is through an analysis of its DNA through a PCR (laboratory analytical technique).A veterinarian can draw blood from the animal, send it to a laboratory and , in a few days, the sex of the turtle will be known for sure.

If you want to read more articles similar to How do you know if a turtle is male or female? , we recommend that you enter our Curiosities section of the animal world.

Bibliography

Berry, JF,&Shine, R.(1980).Sexual size dimorphism and sexual selection in turtles (Order Testudines). Oecology , 44 (2), 185-191.
Bonnet, X., Lagarde, F., Henen, BT, Corbin, J., Nagy, KA, Naulleau, G.,&Cambag, R.(2001).Sexual dimorphism in steppe tortoises (Testudo horsfieldii): influence of the environment and sexual select ion on body shape and mobility. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society , 72 (3), 357-372.
Cox, RM, Butler, MA,&John-Alder, HB (2007).The evolution of sexual size dimorphism in reptiles. Sex, size and gender roles: evolutionary studies of sexual size dimorphism , 38-49.
Lawson, DP (2001).Morphometrics and sexual dimorphism of the hingeâ € back tortoises Kinixys erosa and Kinixys homeana (Reptilia: Testudinidae) in southwestern Cameroon. African Journal of Herpetology , 50 (1), 1-7.
McRae, WA, Landers, JL,&Cleveland, GD (1981).Sexual dimorphism in the gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus). Herpetologica , 46-52.
Willemsen, RE,&Hailey, A.(2003).Sexual dimorphism of body size and shell shape in European tortoises. Journal of Zoology , 260 (4), 353-365.

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