Japanese Pond Turtle

Fascinating facts about the Japanese Pond Turtle

• When researchers looked at Japanese pond turtles in captivity, they found they readily mate with three other Asian turtles – the Chinese pond turtle, the Chinese stripe-necked turtle, and the Chinese box turtle – a warning that keeping these species together could erase rare gene pools. This shows how human hobbyists can unintentionally blur species boundaries that took millions of years to form.
• Surveys of wetlands across Japan reveal that the turtles are far more common in flat, low-lying rice paddies and marshes than on the slopes of nearby mountains, even though they can live in both places. Knowing this helps conservation planners focus protection on the flatlands that act as the species’ strongest stronghold.
• Although habitat loss has nudged their numbers down, the Japanese pond turtle is still listed as not threatened.

At a glance

About the Japanese Pond Turtle

The Japanese pond turtle (Mauremys japonica), known in Japan as nihon ishigame or “Japanese stone turtle,” is an aquatic species found in many freshwater bodies such as rivers, lakes, ponds, swamps, marshes, and irrigated rice paddies in the flatlands surrounding highlands. Although it can be found on both flatlands and mountain slopes, studies have shown it is more likely to thrive on the flatlands. This species is known to hybridize in captivity with the Chinese pond turtle, the Chinese stripe-necked turtle, and the Chinese box turtle.

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