A Guide to the Amphibians
and Reptiles of California

Turtle Videos

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This is a list of links to all the short videos of turtles that you can find on the individual turtle pages. The list is in alphabetical order using the Latin names. Some videos include sound, many do not. These simple videos are intended to show how a turtle moves or to show it in its habitat, but some of them show interesting behavior. They have been kept short, and small, and sometimes without sound, to conserve bandwidth use, which was an issue when most of these were made in the late aughts. Most of them were shot quickly at the time and place where the turtle was found before it got away. In many cases the animals were uncooperative. Because many herps quickly run away and hide and others only move for a few seconds then remain motionless even when prodded, it is often hard to film herps in motion without capturing and staging them. Consequently, many of these videos use a few short segments to avoid showing only motionless turtles. Click on the camera icon to watch a video. Many of these videos are in the Apple Quicktime .mov format which no longer works on all browsers, including the most popular browser Google Chrome. Be aware that Chrome might download the video to your computer for you to play offline. It is recommended that you watch these videos on Apple's Safari Browser or Firefox, which still play the .mov format as of June, 2026. Click on a link to visit the home page for a turtle.
	Actinemys Palida - Southwestern Pond Turtle	Southwestern Pond Turtles compete for basking space on a small pond.
	Actinemys Palida - Southwestern Pond Turtle	Southwestern Pond Turtles basking in the sun.
	Actinemys Palida - Southwestern Pond Turtle	Southwestern Pond turtles in an Alameda County pond.
	Chelonia mydas - Green Sea Turtle	Green Sea Turtles surface while feeding near the mouth of the San Gabriel River. About every 5 minutes I saw one of these turtles surface to breathe for just a few seconds, but there was no way to tell when and where one would come up, which made it difficult to photograph them. The only solution was to set up the video camera, turn it on, and hope a turtle would surface within its view.
	Chelydra serpentina - Snapping Turtle	Snapping turtles have a reputation for being dangerous meat-hungry beasts that bite off the legs of ducks, but here we see one on a hot summer day in a wetlands in Virginia slowly trying to eat small leaves.
	Chelydra serpentina - Snapping Turtle	As I was driving on a busy highway in Brevard County, Florida, I saw a snapping turtle trying to cross the highway. I quickly stopped and ran toward it, which caused it to turn around, sparing its life, no doubt. After taking some still shots, I only got a few seconds of video before it sat still. I tried to move it so it would walk again, but decided to give up after it snapped at my fingers a couple of times. Maybe I'll do better next time....
	Chelydra serpentina - Snapping Turtle	Snapping turtles swimming in a Virginia wetlands
	Chrysemys picta bellii - Western Painted Turtle	Painted turtles on a pond in Okanagan County, Washington.
	Chrysemys picta bellii - Western Painted Turtle	Painted turtles at a wetlands in Canada.
	Chrysemys picta picta - Eastern Painted Turtle	An Eastern Painted Turtle swims in a wetlands in Virginia.
	Clemmys guttata - Spotted Turtle	Spotted Turtles in Virginia.
	Gopherus agasizii - Mohave Desert Tortoise	A young tortoise walks along a rocky wash in the Mohave desert.
	Gopherus agasizii - Mohave Desert Tortoise	Kicking dirt out behind it, an adult Desert Tortoise crawls back into its summer burrow.
	Gopherus polyphemus - Gopher Tortoise	A gopher tortoise is found on a sandy trail in Florida. At first it stays in its shell, then it slowly emerges and walks into the brush and down into its burrow on the other side of the brush. Eventually it turns around and we can see it staring out of the mouth of the burrow.
	Kinosternon sonoriense sonoriense - Sonora Mud Turtle	A Sonora Mud Turtle, found wandering overland next to a dry creek in the mountains outside of Tucson Arizona, slowly pokes its head out of its shell and looks around for several minutes before quickly returning back into the shell. It never did come out, and was left to crawl back to wherever it was going.
	Lepidochelys olivacea - Olive Ridley Sea Turtle	An Olive Ridley swims around in a large aquarium.
	Terrapene ornata luteola - Desert Box Turtle	A bunch of box turtles soaking and drinking in muddy rain puddles in a dirt road one morning in Cochise County, Arizona
	Terrapene ornata luteola - Desert Box Turtle	A box turtle crosses a sandy road in Cochise County, Arizona.
	Terrapene ornata luteola - Desert Box Turtle	A box turtle crosses a road and wanders into the brush one afternoon in Cochise County, Arizona.
	Trachemys scripta elegans - Red-eared Slider	Red-eared Sliders basking, swimming, and sliding into a pond.
	Trachemys scripta elegans - Red-eared Slider	Red-eared Sliders basking at a small lake in Contra Costa County.
	Trachemys scripta elegans - Red-eared Slider	A Red-eared Slider swims in a small lake in Contra Costa County then hauls out onto a log..

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