Homing in the red-eared slider (Trachemys Scripta Elegans) in Illinois

We recaptured 40 of 69 (58%) female red-eared sliders (Trachemys scripta elegans) that had been moved 3 km from Swan Lake to Long Lake in west-central Illinois. Twenty-one of 33 (63.6%) control turtles that were not moved from Swan Lake were recaptured. The similarity in recapture rates between control and experimental turtles suggests that statistically all translocated turtles returned to Swan Lake regardless of the actual percentage recaptured. We also found that males were less likely than females to make cross-river movements between backwaters of the Illinois River. The frequency of cross-river movements in sliders was small, only 86 recaptures (0.8%) out of a total of 10,373 recaptures made from 19,018 trapped turtles marked and released at our study areas between 1994 and 2006.