Smooth Softshell Turtle

Apalone mutica

Photo: Hunter Johnson

Map accurate as of 3/23/2022

Distribution: In Colorado they have been found in the Purgatory and Arkansas Rivers, in elevations below 4,500ft (1372m).

Activity: Being a diurnal species, Smooth Softshells are typically active between the months of March and October. A very skittish species, they typically run away from any disturbance they encounter. They spend the majority of their active time basking or foraging for food, and when inactive, will bury themselves in the mud or sand at the bottom of the body of water they inhabit. (Collins 2010)

Conservation Status:
NatureServe rank: G5 (Globally Secure), S1 (State Critically Imperiled).

Habitat: Smooth Softshells prefer sandy and muddy bottom bodies of moderately to fast flowing water. Can be found basking on sand bars, mudflats and logs alongside the rivers they inhabit. (Collins 2010)

Diet: Smooth Softshells are opportunistic carnivores, known to eat a wide variety of invertebrates, from terrestrial and aquatic insects, to crayfish. They have also been observed to prey upon fish, amphibians, small birds and small mammals. (Collins 2010)

Defense: When threatened they will typically run into the water and swim with the flow of the river to escape predators, and will occasionally go the extra step of burying themselves into the bottom of the river to avoid detection there after. (Collins 2010)

Natural Predators: As eggs and juveniles they are occasionally preyed upon by predatory birds, snakes, fish,bullfrogs, other turtles and small to medium sized mammals. As adults they have very few predators but are susceptible to pollution and other environmental disturbances. (Collins 2010)

Cited & Additional Resources
Collins, J. T., Collins, S. L., Taggart, T. W., & Collins, J. T. (2010). Amphibians, reptiles and turtles in Kansas. Eagle Mountain Publishing.

Account compiled by: Rémi Pattyn
Reviewed by:
Last Updated: 3/25/2022 by Rémi Pattyn