Eastern Chicken Turtle

How to identify

• Very long neck, often as long as half the carapace length
• Netlike or reticulate pattern on carapace
• Yellow vertical stripes on hindlegs
• Oval, flattened carapace, olive to brown
• Yellow plastron without markings

About this species

The eastern chicken turtle is an uncommon species at the northern edge of its range in southeastern Virginia, found only in the coastal plain. They are named for their reportedly chicken-like taste and are identified by a distinctively long, striped neck and a netlike pattern on the carapace.

Often confused with

Did you know

"Unlike most Virginia turtles, chicken turtles are active during cooler months and may actually aestivate in summer, reversing the typical turtle activity pattern."

Sightings & citizen science

Help document Virginia wildlife by logging your sightings on iNaturalist. Every observation builds the conservation data that researchers and rehabbers depend on.