Painted turtles may not be the solitary creatures many people assume. New research at Mount Allison University suggests that when turtles gather to bask in the sun, some are making deliberate social choices — including preferring some basking companions over others.

The study, led by Dr. Julia Riley, assistant professor and Canada Research Chair in Integrative Wildlife Ecology at Mount Allison, documented turtle basking behaviour over two spring seasons. Researchers also found that social interactions among females were influenced by body size and individual “boldness,” suggesting the presence of dominance hierarchies during basking.

These researchers, who studied Midland Painted Turtles in Algonquin Provincial Park, found that while most turtles bask alone, those that do bask together often show clear preferences for specific partners. These “basking buddies” were not explained by factors that typically drive social interactions, like kinship, shared habitat use, or sex. Instead, there is opportunity for future study to determine what other factors may be driving social behaviour in these freshwater turtles.

“Most people don’t think of turtles as social animals,” says Riley. “But our findings show that turtles may have hidden layers of social interaction that we’re only beginning to understand.”

“We were excited to find that turtles sometimes have favourite basking buddies,” says co-author Dr. Jackie Litzgus, professor at Laurentian University. “It suggests there’s much more happening beneath the surface than we once believed.”

The findings broaden scientific understanding of reptile behaviour and highlight the need to study sociality in species traditionally viewed as asocial. Such insights may help researchers better understand how social interactions influence survival and reproduction in the wild. 

Read the full paper.