Who isn’t a little weird? Here at the Center for Biological Diversity, we celebrate peculiarity in every one of its human and animal forms. After all, who’d want to live in a world without weirdness?
Florida Softshell: A Hardcore Softy
In this installment of Save the Weirdos: a turtle who breaks the mold.
The most defining characteristic of a turtle is its hard shell, right? Wrong. Weird, beautiful ol’ Mother Nature made some turtles with soft shells, too. Softshell turtles — sometimes called “pancake turtles” because they look like big, flat dollops of (greenish-gray) pancake batter with snorkels sticking out one end — live all over the world. This article focuses on the Florida species, which the Center is fighting to protect.
Florida softshells do have shells or “carapaces” partially protecting their bodies, but these encasements lack most of the bone and the horny “scutes” (turtle scales) found on most other turtles’ shells. Instead their flexible carapaces are covered with leathery skin — living tissue susceptible to injury and infection.
But what softshells lack in scutes, they more than make up for with the rest of their bodies, which are built for a scuffle — with an irascible attitude to match.
Their flipper-like feet help them quickly move through still water (softshells prefer ponds) and are tipped with long, sharp claws that can tear apart some big-deal prey. Those claws can tackle not only bugs and fish but also snakes, birds and other turtles — and even do serious damage to alligators.
The turtles’ long, periscopic necks let them see danger from all directions (like when they’re chillin’ with their bodies buried in sand) but also allow them to shoot their heads forward with lightning speed to snag unsuspecting prey with their powerful jaws, slicing with sharp teeth hidden by the fleshy lips under their freaky-looking tubular proboscises.
Softshells are also insanely fast — even on land. Another paradoxical fact. We know that tortoises are the poster children for “slow and steady,” but turtles are also often envisioned as slow, awkward ground shufflers — whereas softshells can scuttle across the ground at up to 15 miles per hour when agitated.
A few more facts about softshells’ hardcore nature:
1. Their skin — which, remember, covers their whole bodies — can absorb some oxygen, letting them partially breathe through it. While underwater they get the rest of their oxygen by pumping water in and out of their throats. These adaptations help make them some of the most aquatic turtles in the world, allowing them to dominate ponds across their range.
2. A female Florida softshell can nest up to seven times per mating season and produce almost 225 eggs per year, more than almost any other reptile. That’s a pretty world-dominating reproductive capability.
3. Adult Florida softshells are the largest North American softshell turtles, with females growing to be almost 2 feet long (males tend to be about half that size).
4. Florida softshells can secrete a gross-smelling musk to warn off predators.
5. “Ferox,” the second part of these turtles’ Latin name (Apalone ferox) means “ferocious.” Appropriate.
Despite their pugnacious personality, Florida softshells are vulnerable to habitat loss and overcollection for the food and pet trade. Want to help us save this and other Southern and midwestern freshwater turtles — and other imperiled weirdos around the world? Join our email list donate if you can, and make sure to LIKE this article (just click the ❤ symbol to the lower left).
Watch our video to check out the Florida softshell in action.
