Turtle Journal

Mature Female #8012 — First Active Terrapin of 2010

Bright sunshine and temperatures approaching 60 degrees prompted a dozen or more diamondback terrapins to mix and mingle in the major mating aggregation of Wellfleet Harbor on Outer Cape Cod today, April 20th.  Sue Wieber Nourse of Turtle Journal netted the first terrapin of the year, a gorgeous mature female, as high tide flooded into the cove.

Terrapin #8012 Rejoins Mating Aggregation in Wellfleet Bay

Sue spotted males following females around the marshy edge of the cove and decided to see if she could actually dip net one as a sample.  Water in the harbor is crystal clear in April before algae blooms spoil the view. 

Carapace and Plastron of Terrapin #8012

Female Terrapin #8012 is quite a mature female approaching the maximum size for an Outer Cape terrapin at 19.6 centimeters straight-line carapace length.  Despite her age, #8012 was only first captured on 12 July 2009 as she nested in the sandy dunes behind Field Point off Blackfish Creek.  She weighed 1122 grams back then and 1284 grams today after emerging from six months of brumation (winter slumber).

So, in the immortal words of Sherlock Holmes, “The game’s afoot!”

3-Year-Old Juvenile Female Spotted Turtle

Turtle Journal discovered an adorable three-year-old female spotted turtle basking on the water surface in an abandoned cranberry bog on the SouthCoast of Massachusetts.  As we patrolled the bog in search of mating spotted turtles mid-morning, we found instead this tiny juvenile.

John Adams Gold Dollar Vs 3-Year-Old Spotted Turtle

“How tiny,” you may ask?  This cutie’s carapace measured only 6.28 centimeters (2½ inches) long and 5.37 centimeters (2.1 inches) wide.  Her plastron stretched 5.65 centimeters (2.2 inches) long and 3.615 centimeters (1.4 inch) wide behind the bridge.  She weighed 42 grams (1½ ounce).  The John Adams gold dollar coin gives a rough approximation of her size.

Examination of Juvenile Female Spotted Turtle

We noted that this beauty sported a brightly colored orange neck, demonstrating the sexual dichromatic characteristic of the spotted turtle species.  Males show a drab gray or brown chin and turtleneck.

3-Year-Old Juvenile Female Spotted Turtle

Our sweet young female had two scutal anomalies on her carapace.  The third vertebral showed a split in the upper left corner and she had five right costals instead of the normal four.

Clumsy Juvenile Spotted Turtle Released

Another trait she shared with other spotted turtles that we have documented re-entering the bog after release was clumsiness.  We often watch as spotted turtles tumble and somersault down the bog bank, often tripping head over heal before entry into the water.  Today proved no exception to the rule.

3-year-Old Juvenile Female Spotted Turtle

Turtle Journal is always pleased to find new recruits to an isolated turtle population.  We are especially pleased to find one so cute as this gorgeous three-year-old female, a turtle that offers hope for the future of this small population (a dozen or so) of spotted turtles in an old cranberry bog that has been abandoned for more than a decade.

Feisty Female Gopher Tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus)

Mating season for gopher tortoises (Gopherus polyphemus) in Florida comes each April and May.  With rising temperatures and bright sunshine today, the entire tortoise community on the Gulf Coast of Naples, Florida went out looking for action. 

Gopher Tortoise near Ritz Carlton Beach Resort in Naples

These gopher tortoises on Vanderbilt Beach occupy the most expensive habitat, inch for inch, of any turtles in the world with large burrows tunneled in front of five-star resorts and billion dollar condominium high rises.  They excavate openings to capture sweet Gulf breezes that ventilate their underground homes that directly overlook brightly decorated swimming cabañas and beach umbrellas for elite jet-set tourists from around the globe.  These critters must understand, and perhaps they even invented, the real estate phrase: “location, location, location!”

Nearly 15-Inch Long Female Gopher Tortoise

While we’ve been conditioned to think of tortoises as plodding animals, steady but slow as the fable goes, this illusion would be crushed by the reality of a gopher tortoise on the hunt for a mating companion.  Turtle Journal encountered a very large and extremely feisty female tortoise this morning, strutting her feminity among the burrows in the dunes wedged between the Ritz Carlton Naples Beach Resort and the Gulf of Mexico.  This turtle hissed at the unintended intrusion, kicked sand and stomped through the high grass and brush like a rhinoceros on steriods.  Later in the heat of the day, other mature tortoises were observed cavorting in the sandy dunes.

Vanderbilt Beach Gopher Tortoise at Entrance to Burrow

With all this frenetic hormonal activity today, the start of nesting season can only be a couple of weeks off, as female tortoises begin to bury their eggs in mounds of warm sand near the entrance to their burrows for incubation under the Florida sun.