When asked about my favorite animal it really is difficult to pinpoint a favorite — each animal on our planet is so interesting but if I had to choose I would have to pick the reptiles.

I am not quite sure why I am drawn to these cold-blooded, scaly critters, but I am. And, of course I am hard-pressed to pick my favorite reptile.

Each species has characteristics that I find fascinating.

One of the prettiest turtles, as its name suggests, is the painted turtle. This turtle is one of the most widespread native turtles in North America.

While habitat loss and car strikes have reduced the turtle’s population numbers, its ability to live with human disturbances has helped it remain the most abundant turtle in North America. Adults in the wild can live for more than 55 years.

They prefer slow-moving streams and wetlands and once in a territory are reluctant to move from the area.

Adapting to their surroundings

One of the most interesting adaptations of this turtle is its ability to tolerate freezing temperatures. This is due to an antifreeze-like substance in their blood that keeps their cells from freezing.

Fossils show that the painted turtle existed 15 million years ago!

The female is larger than the male and sizes range from five to eight inches. The turtle’s top shell is dark and smooth, without a ridge. Its skin is olive or brown with red, orange, or yellow stripes on its legs. The scales or scutes of the top shell have pale leading edges and occur in straight rows across the back, unlike all other North American turtles where the shells are divided on each side along the top ridge.

The turtles mate in spring and autumn. Females dig nests on land and lay eggs between late spring and mid-summer.

Aquatic vegetation, insects, crustaceans, small frogs, mice, small snakes, and fish make up the diet of this turtle. Although eggs or hatchlings are preyed upon by rodents, foxes, ravens, and snakes, the adult’s hard shell protect it from most predators.

I need heat!

Like all reptiles, the painted turtle relies on warmth from its surroundings and is active only during the day when it basks for hours on logs or rocks.

During winter, the turtle hibernates, usually in the mud at the bottom of water bodies. As the temperatures get colder the turtle’s metabolism becomes reduced. Depending on stored energy and oxygen in the water the painted turtle is able to survive the winter.

One of the strangest adaptations this turtle possess is the ability to breathe underwater or in mud, through cloacal respiration. In other less polite terms I have heard it referred to “butt breathing.” The lining of its cloaca possesses tiny finger-like villi (very similar to the ones in our intestines) that are loaded with blood vessels; this is how the exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide between the bloodstream and the water occurs allowing the turtle to remain submerged all winter long.

The biggest threat

One of the biggest threats that the painted turtle faces is the presence of red-eared sliders in its habitat.

When these red-eared turtles are small, they are pretty easy to care for but as they grow and get to the size of a dinner plate (or larger!) they are more difficult to take care of and require larger, better and more expensive equipment.

It is at this point, that sometimes they are released into the environment. These turtles are a major threat to the painted turtle as well as other native species and the latest findings report they are invasive in worldwide. They are more aggressive than the painted turtle and will fight over food, important spots for basking, egg-laying, and hibernation.

When people ask me if they make good pets, I am honest and tell them that these red-eared sliders really don’t — they are messy, smelly, and require special equipment to keep them healthy. It is never OK to release them into the environment.

Jeannie Carl is a naturalist at the Carbon County Environmental Education Center in Summit Hill. The center rehabilitates injured animals and educates the public on a variety of wildlife found in the area. For information on the Carbon County Environmental Center, visit www.carboneec.org.