🐢🐢Found a new friend! Baby soft shell turtle🐢🐢

Found a baby soft shell turtle! This was at the Kings River in Arkansas

The smooth softshell turtle has an anapsid skull. This kind of skull is present among the earliest reptiles and is retained by turtles today. The anapsid skull lacks openings behind the orbits. The smooth softshell turtle has a smooth, flexible and leather like carapace that is covered by skin instead of the hard scutes commonly observed in other turtle species. The plastro is light (white or gray) with no markings, and the underlying bones are visible. Smooth softshell turtles have a tubular snout with round nostrils.

Currently, the smooth softshell turtle is considered a species of least conservation concern. However, the species is still facing some wide-ranged threats. These threats include habitat degradation and harvesting for food. Additionally, due to its skin's high rate of gas exchange, it is very susceptible to polluted waters. As a result of all of these factors, the smooth softshell turtle has been listed as a species of special concern in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

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