Geographic range: Nearctic, Neotropical: As many as 14 subspecies are sometimes recognized, ranging from USA to Argentina. USA range: Maryland and Virginia to northern Florida, west to Kansas and New Mexico. (T. s. elegans: native to the Mississippi river valley, from Illinois, west to Kansas and Oklahoma, and south to the Gulf of Mexico. T. s. scripta: Virginia to northern Florida and Alabama. T. s. troostii: eastern Kentucky to Georgia and Alabama). Additional subspecies occur from northern Mexico south through Central America to Colombia, Venezuela and south to Argentina. This species has also been introduced to other continents.

Physical characteristics: Medium to large (20 -60 cm) turtle with a prominent patch (patches) of red, or yellow on each side of the head. The following description is generalized and describes characteristic features of all subspecies:
The carapace is oval and weakly keeled. The posterior rim is slightly serrated. The first vertebral is longer than broad, the other four are broader than long. The color of the carapace renges from olive to brown and bears yellow markings that vary geographically. They are typically in form of stripes, bars and reticulations, sometimes even ocelli. The marginal scutes are aslo marked, usually in a form of a dark blotch surrounded by a light band. Bridge markings can be in shape of dark blotches or bars. Old males often turn almost black.
Plastron has no hinges and usually has yellow color. The color pattern also varies geographically, from very simple to complex pattern covering almost the whole plastron. The hind plastral lobe is slightly notched posteriorly.
The head is moderately large with a pronounced snout (more prominent in males in certain tropical subspecies). Skin is is yellow to olive brown displaying yellow stripes. Especially prominent are supratemporal and orbitomandibuar head stripes. Postorbital stripe is usually red, orange or yellow and almost always present.
Males are usually smaller than females and have long, thick tails with the vent posterior to the carapacial rim.
The most common (and most widely sold) is T. s. elegans (Red-eared slider) that gets its name from the broad reddish or orange stripe behind each eye, though some red-eared sliders do not have this streak. Young hatchlings have a green carapace and skin with yellow green to dark green markings and stripes. Color in adults fades to a muted olive green color. Some older individuals (especially males) become melanistic, appearing almost black with few visible markings. The carapace is oval and flattened with a weak keel. The plastron is yellow with dark markings in the center of each scute. T. s. scripta (Yellow-bellied slider) has a yellow blotch behind each eye which may join the neck stripe, but is usually only evident in juveniles and females. Yellow vertical bands mark the carapace, with the underside being yellow with smudges. The plastron is also yellow with dark blotches or smudges. T. s. troostii (Cumberland turtle) has a narrower orange-yellow stripe behind each eye. It is similar to T. s. elegans, but has fewer and much wider stripes on the legs, neck and head. All the subspecies have webbed feet that aid the turtle in swimming.

Food habits: Young turtles tend to be more carnivorous than adults, eating about 70% animal matter and 30% plant matter. Adults eat 90% plant matter and 10% animal matter. Diet also includes aquatic insects, snails, tadpoles, crawfish, fish, crustaceans, and mollusks. Sliders also eat plants like arrowhead, water lilies, hyacinths, and duck weed.

Reproduction: Maturity is reached in males at 3 to 5 years of age, when they are about 4 inches long; females at 5 to 7 years and 6-7.5 inches in length. Males have a unique courtship dance that they engage in anywhere between the months of March-July. Male sliders will approach the female from the front, stretch out their front feet and vibrate their long claws on the female's head and neck. Some may even bite the female. The female usually continues to swim forward and, if receptive, will eventually stop and sink to the bottom. The male will then grip the female's carapace with all four claws and arrange himself on top of her. He will then bend his tail under hers, let go of his front arms, and take an almost vertical position. From this position mating occurs, and lasts about 15 minutes. Most nesting occurs from May to July. A female may have 1-3 clutches in a season, with second clutches laid in July or August. Females will often travel some distance to find a suitable nesting site. Nests are dug in the soil with the female's back feet. Four to 23 eggs are laid in the 2-4 inch deep hole and then covered with the displaced soil. It takes 2 to 2.5 months for young to hatch and they do so using their "egg tooth" (caruncle) which disappears soon after hatching. Hatching occurs between July and September. If hatching occurs in the late fall, the young may overwinter in the nest and emerge the following spring. Sliders grow quickly at first, reaching about 2 inches within the first year, but growth slows as they get older.

Behavior: Sliders enjoy basking on logs, rocks, or stumps near the water. Sometimes you can see sliders stacked on top of each other three high. The name "slider" refers to the quick retreat from their basking site into the water when they feel even the slightest bit threatened. Sliders will sleep at night underwater, usually resting on the bottom or floating on the surface, using their inflated throat as a flotation aid. Sliders become inactive at temperatures below 10°C. They will often hibernate underwater or under banks and hollow stumps. Emergence occurs in early March to late April.

Habitat: Sliders prefer quiet, soft, muddy bottomed waters with suitable basking spots. They are faithful to their home ranges, leaving only to nest or hibernate. In tropics thay are more strictly bound to rivers.

Biomes: rivers, permanent ' semipermanent freshwater bodies

Conservation: Sliders, especially the red-eared, have been heavily collected for the pet trade and are sold by the millions in pet shops across the world. Because of unsanitary conditions and a lack of knowledge on turtle care, few survive for long in captivity. U.S. government regulations now require turtles to be at least 4 inches in length before they can be sold as pets in the USA. However, many hatchlings are still produced commercially for export to Europe, Mexico, and Japan where they are popular as pets. Commercial turtle farms rarely qualify as "closed systems," and farm breeding stock is often augmented by the capture of wild turtles.] In recent years, numbers of adult sliders and related turtle species have been trapped for the food trade; many have been exported to Asia. Native slider populations are declining due to habitat destruction and pollution as well as overharvest. However, because of the release of unwanted pets, sliders have established populations outside of their native range. They have been found in California, France, South Africa, Bahrain, Japan, South Korea, Guam, and Thailand. These introduced populations may have some effect on native fauna and species, but to date there is little evidence supporting this. The biggest threat to sliders is Man. Not only are they exploited for the pet and food trade, but slider eggs are also used as fish bait. Sliders are often killed on roads by automobiles, and are sometimes persecuted by fishermen who mistakenly consider the turtles to be fish eaters.