Fox Island Wildlife Management Area
Acres of tall marsh grass still mask the extent of this year’s terrapin die-off in the Fox Island Wildlife Management Area. The improbability of finding dead turtles trapped in these thickets will remain astronomically high until winter storms and ice floes scythe the field.
Young Dead Female Terrapin Found in High Grass
Yet we were able this morning to spot the plastron of a young female, barely visible through dying grass stalks at the east edge of Field Point.
Don Lewis Bags Recovered Terrapin Carcass
Encouraged by this find, we waded deeper into the marsh only to back off when Rags plopped into a quick-mud creek channel disguised by the dense vegetation. Better to retreat with honor and limbs intact to return another day.
Don Lewis Documents Impact of Terrapin Deaths
The remains proved to be a prepubescent 8-year-old female — a significant loss to the Wellfleet population. Maybe a year short of sexual maturity, she had escaped the many and obvious threats to survival since her birth in the early 90s. She had avoided nest predation, which reaches more than 90 percent. She evaded predators stalking hatchlings as they emerge and race for the tidal marsh. She survived infancy when her tiny size represented a tasty morsel to a host of marsh critters. She lived through eight harsh winters, burrowed under black ooze for seven months of the year. At her current size and age, she had outgrown nearly every predator and threat. And now she was about to enter the most important and productive phase for the health of the terrapin population. Because turtles are such long-lived and slow-growing animals, mature females are the critical lynchpin in terrapin survival. Researchers have estimated that it takes a female turtle nearly 10 years of full sexual production to lay enough eggs to simply replace herself. We can’t afford to lose many turtles such as this one.