| Southwestern Pond Turtle, Clemmys marmorata pallida Habitat
This unlikely looking hillside in Los Angeles County is habitat for possibly the last replicating population of the southwestern pond turtle west of the Santa Monica Mountains. Hatchlings and young can be found here year round in heavily shaded, deep rocky pools, like that seen on the right, whenever they contain water (note the well camouflaged, greenish yearling in the center). Introduced bullfrogs, a major predator elsewhere, are absent from the immediate vicinity, probably because of the ephemeral nature of these rock pools.
Photographs by Michael J. Connor |
