{"id":7408,"date":"2024-10-29T14:07:20","date_gmt":"2024-10-29T18:07:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/turtlesurviva1.wpenginepowered.com\/news\/mexican-giant-musk-turtle-copy\/"},"modified":"2025-08-12T14:30:52","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T18:30:52","slug":"species-spotlight-mesoamerican-slider","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/turtlesurvival.org\/species-spotlight-mesoamerican-slider\/","title":{"rendered":"Species Spotlight: Mesoamerican Slider"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div class=\"sidebar-wrapper mb-16\">\n<div class=\"sidebar-main\">\n<div class=\"rte text-18 container mx-auto max-w-4xl px-4\">\n<p>The last species we\u2019re spotlighting for\u00a0Hicatee Awareness Month\u00a0is the Mesoamerican Slider!<\/p>\n<p>Like the other friends of the Hicatee we\u2019ve featured this month, this turtle faces threats of habitat destruction and collection for the food &amp; pet trades. Due to a lack in research and long-term population monitoring, this species\u2019 IUCN Red List Status is classified as Data Deficient. Thanks to our surveys, research, and community engagement with\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/bfreebz.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong><mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-green-cyan-color\">Belize Foundation for Research and Environmental Education (BFREE)<\/mark><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0in Belize, and Eduardo Reyes Grajales in Chiapas, Mexico, we are learning more about this species and what conservation actions it needs to continue to thrive in the wild.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-7430\" src=\"https:\/\/turtlesurvival.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/2-2-1024x819-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"819\" srcset=\"https:\/\/turtlesurvival.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/2-2-1024x819-2.png 1024w, https:\/\/turtlesurvival.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/2-2-1024x819-2-300x240.png 300w, https:\/\/turtlesurvival.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/2-2-1024x819-2-768x614.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The Mesoamerican Slider may look familiar. It is in the genus\u00a0<em>Trachemys<\/em>, just like the populous Yellow-bellied and Red-eared sliders, common species that can now be found around the world due to their proliferation by the pet trade. This species is also commonly found in the pet trade and, like the other two, are released into non-native areas. The easiest way to distinguish the Mesoamerican Slider from the Yellow-bellied or Red-eared is by the ring pattern on their carapace scutes and the extensive patterning along the seams of their plastron scutes.<\/p>\n<p>Follow along throughout October to learn more about the turtles in Belize that need our help, and learn more about these turtles in the educational materials and webinars hosted by BFREE\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/turtlesurvival.org\/news\/kicking-off-the-8th-annual-hicatee-awareness-month\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-green-cyan-color\">here!<\/mark><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cSlide\u201d, the Mesoamerican Slider, is one of the friends from the\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bfreebz.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Color-version-of-Hicatee-and-friends-infoing-sheets-2024.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><mark class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-green-cyan-color\">\u201cHicatee and Friends\u201d<\/mark><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0campaign for Hicatee Awareness Month.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Pictured:<\/strong>\u00a0Mesoamerican Slider<\/li>\n<li><strong>Countries of Origin:<\/strong>\u00a0Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama<\/li>\n<li><strong>Habitat:\u00a0<\/strong>Wide variety of subtropical and temperate still and moving freshwater bodies, including lakes, ponds, oxbows, reservoirs, swamps, marshes, rivers, and creeks<\/li>\n<li><strong>Wild Population:<\/strong>\u00a0Unknown; populations intensively hunted for trade and consumption; abundant in many areas; highly adaptable to man-made freshwater habitats<\/li>\n<li><strong>IUCN Red List Status:<\/strong>\u00a0Data Deficient<\/li>\n<li><strong>Threats:<\/strong>\u00a0Habitat destruction, alteration, and degradation; collection for the pet, food, and curio trades and local consumption<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-7431\" src=\"https:\/\/turtlesurvival.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Screenshot-2024-10-28-at-3.57.18\u202fPM-e1731525141193-856x1024-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"856\" height=\"1024\" srcset=\"https:\/\/turtlesurvival.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Screenshot-2024-10-28-at-3.57.18\u202fPM-e1731525141193-856x1024-1.png 856w, https:\/\/turtlesurvival.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Screenshot-2024-10-28-at-3.57.18\u202fPM-e1731525141193-856x1024-1-251x300.png 251w, https:\/\/turtlesurvival.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Screenshot-2024-10-28-at-3.57.18\u202fPM-e1731525141193-856x1024-1-768x919.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 856px) 100vw, 856px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em>Images by Eduardo Reyes Grajales.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The last species we\u2019re spotlighting for\u00a0Hicatee Awareness Month\u00a0is the Mesoamerican Slider! Like the other friends of the Hicatee we\u2019ve featured this month, this turtle faces threats of habitat destruction and collection for the food &amp; pet trades. Due to a lack in research and long-term population monitoring, this species\u2019 IUCN Red List Status is classified [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7433,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[78],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-species-spotlights"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Species Spotlight: Mesoamerican Slider - Turtle Survival Alliance<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/turtlesurvival.org\/species-spotlight-mesoamerican-slider\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Species Spotlight: Mesoamerican Slider - Turtle Survival Alliance\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The last species we\u2019re spotlighting for\u00a0Hicatee Awareness Month\u00a0is the Mesoamerican Slider! Like the other friends of the Hicatee we\u2019ve featured this month, this turtle faces threats of habitat destruction and collection for the food &amp; pet trades. 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