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Auteur Topic: Glyptemys insculpta (Woodturtle)  (gelezen 49552 keer)
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« Gepost op: 11 Oktober 2008, 12:58:27 »

*******************GLYPTEMYS INSCULPTA (WOODTURTLE)****************************

De foto's hieronder zijn van Mike Jones een bioloog uit Amerika.
Mike heeft gedurende een meerjarig onderzoek naar verschillende populatie's Glyptemys insculpta vele foto's gemaakt en op die manier een prachtig beeld gegeven van de Glyptemys insculpta in de natuur van Amerika.
Op 22 plekken in 5 waterrijke gebieden zijn erin het totaal 140 Glyptemys insculpta gevolgd door Mike met zendapperatuur.
Voor een periode van op zijn minst 1 jaar tot meerdere jaren, hierbij is meer ontdekt over de leefwijze, voedsel, habitat, habitat gebruik, paring, populatie struktuur en andere dingen met als doel zoveel mogelijk te weten te komen om advies te kunnen geven over beschermings plannen wat betreft de Glyptemys insculpta en zijn habitat.
Een tegenslag die grote impact had op de populatie's en het onderzoek is de storm van 2005 in Massachusetts geweest, toch heeft ook dit natuurgeweld Mike verschillende dingen over de Glyptemys insculpta geleerd en meer inzichten gegeven.
Wij willen Mike hartelijk bedanken voor de vele foto's die hij beschikbaar heeft gesteld en van commentaar heeft voorzien, ook al onze vragen die wij gesteld hebben over Glyptemys insculpta heeft hij beantwoord.
En de tijd die hij daaraan heeft besteed.

Bedankt Mike en succes met de verdere studie naar deze prachtige schildpad de Glyptemys insculpta.

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Oude manlijke Glyptemys insculpta die gevolgd is met een radio-zender sinds 2004 in Franklin County, Massachusetts.


Parende Glyptemys insculpta in de Lower Connecticut River, Massachusetts manlijk dier nummer 16 uit het onderzoek.


Prachtige gekleurde Glyptemys insculpta man aan het zonnen op een oeverkant aan de rand van een klein stroompje in Massachusetts.


Glyptemys insculpta man nummer 380 in het Westen van Massachusetts.


Glyptemys insculpta man 317 net op de oeverkant geklommen om te zonnen in het Westen van Massachusetts.


Een half volgroeid jong van Glyptemys insculpta.


Volgroeide Glyptemys insculpta man nummer 37, zeer fors van lichaamsbouw.


Habitat foto van Glyptemys insculpta waterstroompjes en kleine riviertjes, dit is in New Hampshire, Massachusetts.


Man 106 Glyptemys insculpta lopend langs de modderige oeverrand op zoek naar voedsel van een riviertje in het Westen van Massachusetts.


Parende Glyptemys insculpta in September, Franklin County Massachusetts.



Volgroeide Glyptemys insculpta man hij mist een voorpoot maar redt zich goed.
Mike heeft dit dier herhaaldelijk gezien voor een periode van 3 jaar, Steeds op verschillende plekken maar binnen een straal van 500 meter.



Deze vrouwlijke Glyptemys insculpta is oud maar wordt door mike omschreven als een fel dier, voor een periode van 3 jaar heeft Mike haar gevolgt met behulp van een radiozender.


Ook deze man Glyptemys insculpta is door Mike bestudeerd, het dier leeft in een klein en smal waterstrookpje, wat een aftakking is van een veel grotere rivier.
Heel soms is het dier te vinden bij de grote rivier meestal zonnend op de oeverkant.




Deze man Glyptemys insculpta droeg een radiozender in April 2005, dit leverde interesante gegevens op voor Mike, toen door uitzonderlijke weersomstandighedn het riviertje waarin hij leefde plotseling steeg en overstroomde, het water ging sneller stromen en door de sterke stroming werdt dit mannetje en andere Glyptemys insculpta dieren meegesleurd, later is dit dier terug gevonden, enkele mijlen stroomafwaarts ver van zijn oorspronkelijke leefgebied.


Parende Glyptemys insculpta het vrouwtje is nauwlijks te zien onder het grote mannetje, hier zitten ze in een stroompje wat van een berg afkomt in Hampshire County Massasuchsetts.


Vrouwlijke Glyptemys insculpta.



Parende Glyptemys insculpta in November.


Parende Glyptemys insculpta in November.


Glyptemys insculpta man 106 Franklin County Massachusetts, prachtig donker van kleur met een fijne tekening.


Halfwas Glyptemys insculpta op de oeverkant opzoek naar voedsel, hier heeft het diertje net een slak gevonden en je ziet daarvan nog een stukje in zijn bek.


Plastron van 4 Glyptemys insculpta dieren uit het onderzoek in Hampshire County, Massachusetts.
Mike heeft hier net de radio zenders verwijderd.


Close-up van de kop van een man Glyptemys insculpta, Hampten County, Massachusetts.










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« Antwoord #1 Gepost op: 11 Oktober 2008, 13:01:37 »


Mike vondt dit vrouwljke Glyptemys insculpta dier wat hij onderzocht/volgde sinds 2004 dood, oorzaak hiervan tijdens het maaien door de overheid is zo'n machine over haar heengereden.


Vrouw Glyptemys insculpta uitgerust met een radiozender, zij wordt gevolgd sinds 2004.


Nadat Mike deze Glyptemys insculpta vrouw 59 en man 27 onderzocht had en habitat informatie genoteerd, ruikt het mannetje geintereseerd aan het vrouwtje.
leefgebied een smalstroompje, langs de kanten dicht begroeid in Franklin County, Massasuchetts.






Vrouwlijke Glyptemys inculpta, Mike vondt haar 4 dagen na de meest verwoestende en heftigste storm, die alle records brak in Massasuchetts, begraven onder slik en afval, amper nog in leven.


Vrouw 66 Glyptemys insculpta had minder geluk en overleefde de storm en overstroming niet.


Parende Glyptemys insculpta, man is nummer 8 uit het onderzoek, de vrouw wordt niet onderzocht.


Deze foto heeft Mike gemaakt om het geslachtsverschil duidelijk te laten zien, links de man recht de vrouw.
Man heeft en veel dikkere/langere staart en een gleuf in het midden van zijn plastron, bij de vrouw is het staartje veel dunner en korter zij heeft geen gleuf in haar plastron.


Halfwas Glyptemys insculpta ziitend in een waterstroompje.


Glyptemys insculpta habitat in Centraal Massachusetts een prachtige plek volgens Mike.


Een moment om te herinneren verteld Mike over deze foto, zelden vindt hij 3 vrouwlijke Glyptemys insculpta, op de oeverrand, samen aan het zonnen.
Ze zitten hiertussen Japanse knotweed wat tot de water kant groeid.


Man Glyptemys insculpta aan het zonnen op een boomstam die boven het waterstroompje ligt waar hij in leeft.


Vrouwlijke Glyptemys insculpta bezig met het "' proeven"' van de grondvoorafgaand aan het vinden van een geschikte nestplaats.


Bij dit mannetje ontbreken beide voorpoten (Mike heeft sporen van de roofdieren bekeken en gevolgt twee roofdieren vallen Glyptemys insculpta regelmatig aan, de otter en de minx , deze zijn
verantwoordelijk voor het regelmatig tegenkomen in de Glyptemys insculpta populatie's van dieren met het ontbreken van 1 of meerdere poten).
De wond bij dit mannetje is goed genezen en uit het onderzoek blijkt hij zich prima te redden.


Dit is een van de eerste foto's die Mike gemaakt heeft van de Glyptemys insculpta, hier zwemmend in een waterstroom.


Vrouwlijke Glyptemys insculpta bezig met het graven van een nestplaats.






Vrouwlijke Glyptemys insculpta bezig met het graven van een nestplaats.


Close-up Glyptemys insculpta vrouw


Close-up Glyptemys insculpta man
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« Antwoord #2 Gepost op: 11 Oktober 2008, 13:04:37 »


Glyptemys insculpta vrouw 14 werdt hier door Mike verstoord terwijl zij bezig was haar eigen eieren op te eten, oorzaak/reden hier voor is onbekend.


Ook Glyptemys insculpta man 13 werdt door Mike gevonden met als doodsoorzaak overreden door een maai machine.


Hier is de penis van de man Glyptemys insculpta  gedeeltelijk te zien.


Op de foto is goed zichtbaar hoe het mannetje zich vast klemt tijdens de paring aan haar schild.


Vooral in de herfst zitten de Glyptemys insculpta onder de bloedzuigers.


Proefgaten gegraven door een vrouwlijke Glyptemys insculpta, voordat ze het eigenlijke nest graaft en haar eieren legt.


Glyptemys insculpta eet hier bramen.


Glyptemys insculpta vrouw tijdens het eten van een slak.


Dood Glyptemys insculpta hatchling nog half in zijn ei gevonden in een nest.


Glyptemys insculpta vrouw verstopt tussen de bladeren.


Glyptemys insculpta man met oogletsel.


Habitat Glyptemys insculpta Franklin County Massachusetts.


Glyptemys insculpta 17 met oud genezen stuk uit zijn schild.


Ook Glyptemys insculpta 107 weet goed te overleven met het ontbreken van 1 van zijn voorpoten.


Parende Glyptemys insculpta.


Glypteys insculpta tijdens de winterslaap in het water.


Juvenile Glyptemys insculpta.


Juvenile Glyptemys insculpta.


Glyptemys insculpta gedood door een otter.


Habitat foto Glyptemys insculpta Wisconsin


Habitat foto Glyptemys insculpta New-England


Habitat foto Glyptemys insculpta New-Hampshire






Schild van Glyptemys insculpta voor en na de overstroming/storm,
De schade is veroorzaakt door het botsen tegen stenen terwijl het dier door het water meegesleurd werd.
Vier dieren van de onderzoeksgroep vonden hierbij de dood, de impact was groot doordat vele dieren kilometers meegesleurd werden.
Twee dieren wisten op eigen kracht naar hun oorspronkelijke leefplek terug te keren, dieren die op ongeschikte plekken terecht waren gekomen zijn door Mike gezocht en teruggeplaatst waar ze leefden.


Man Glyptemys insculpta etend van een paddestoel.


Close-up van het Carapax van Glyptemys insculpta.
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« Antwoord #3 Gepost op: 11 Oktober 2008, 13:09:08 »

******************* White Mountain Wood Turtle Project******************************

Het White Mountain Wood Turtle project is gebaseerd op het unieke plastron wat elke Glyptemys insculpta heeft.

Geen plastron is het zelfde, je kan dit vergelijken met een vingerafdruk.
Verschillende onderzoekers/biologen waaronder Mike hebben afgesproken dat ze elke Glyptemys insculpta die ze tegen komen in een afgesproken gebied , een plastron foto maken en deze met een aantal gegevens in een archief stoppen.
Dit project loopt al enkele jaren en op deze manier ontstaat een indruk van de populatie daar en gegevens hierover, die voor de verschillende onderzoekers/biologen op een mooie manier verkregen zijn door samen te werken.
Hieronder een aantal foto's uit dat archief die Mike gemaakt heeft.





















































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« Antwoord #4 Gepost op: 11 Oktober 2008, 19:10:27 »

WATERLOO CEDAR FALLS COURIER (Iowa) 01 June 08 Turtle power (Jon Ericson)
Cedar Falls: For an endangered species, wood turtles sure are tough little devils.
"They have a remarkable ability to survive. I see some on the road having been hit by a car or in a field that looks like they've been hit by a disc," said University of Northern Iowa biology professor Jeff Tamplin. "They routinely survive having limbs chewed off."
Yet the wood turtle is rare in Iowa. Tamplin spent 1 1/2 years looking for them before finding his first one. Others had told him they no longer exist in the state.
Tamplin is among about 20 researchers across the country studying wood turtles. He is the only Iowan studying them, and one of just a few in the Midwest. As an endangered species, the wood turtle is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant part of its range within the state.
Last week Tamplin finished a short summer class with 13 UNI students tracking the turtles at a location in Butler County and in West Virginia.
Tamplin has found 60 of the turtles in Iowa since he started researching them in 2003.
He's made a number of discoveries through his research and published several papers. One such discovery was that they eat prairie ragwort, a plant poisonous to most other animals.
Most suspected the turtle population in Butler County was a ghost population, separate from other wood turtles and comprised entirely of adults. That made it more exciting when Tamplin found a juvenile turtle earlier this year.
Another discovery happened during the class session as students found turtles in West Virginia. One student picked up a turtle only to have it defecate on his hand. The unfortunate instance turned to gold, when the fecal material contained a partially digested snake skin, the first proof that wood turtles eat snakes in addition to vegetation, slugs and nightcrawlers.
The wood turtles spend much of their time migrating to fields and woodlands and back to their winter hibernation spots in muddy river banks. They share one of their more endearing traits they share only with humans --- the skill of creating ground vibrations to trick earthworms to the surface, thinking it's raining.
"They raise up like doing pushups then drop to the ground," Tamplin said. "It's about as exciting as wood turtles get."
For the students, mostly biology majors of one form or another, the chance to spend three weeks tromping through the woods proved irresistible.
Junior Sam Berg, the champion turtle-finder for the session, said he has always been one to track down little creatures.
"I've grown up around animals. I grew up around horses, and I kept snakes and frogs. My parents didn't like it much," Berg said.
One day last week another student, Devin Weoman, lugged around one turtle that had been caught earlier, then brought back to UNI for evaluation and marking. He noted this one was especially healthy, having all its limbs and tail. Wood turtles frequently lose limbs and tails early in life, as those appendages don't entirely recede into the shell and can be easy targets for raccoons or fox. Tamplin said even with a limb missing, the turtles can survive for their typical life span of 60 or 70 years.
Tamplin suspects populations or the rare turtle remain along the Shell Rock, Cedar, West Fork of the Cedar rivers, and possibly along the Winnebago River.
http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2008/06/01/news/metro/10371093.txt
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« Antwoord #5 Gepost op: 11 Oktober 2008, 19:11:51 »

TORONTO STAR (Ontario) 24 May 08 Putting the brakes on wildlife deaths; Driving indigenous species off-road may be key to saving them from extinction (Tess Kalinowski)
Catching frogs and turtles on the banks of the Rouge River or Etobicoke Creek used to be a rite of childhood in the Toronto area.
Now it's rare.
In the Toronto region, where development is pushing out animal habitat, there's one more factor that's proving catastrophic to certain species: road kill.
In some cases, it's pushing them to the brink of extinction.
Led by the Toronto Zoo and the 15-member Ontario Road Ecology Group, scientists and conservationists are now trying to stem the damage and engender the kind of protections the British famously lavish on hedgehogs.
The relatively new science of road ecology, which has taken hold in Europe and western Canada, is gaining ground here.
Ontario is stepping up animal protections along highways with more road signs, deer reflectors and extra-high fencing - measures aimed as much at protecting people as wildlife, according to the experts.
The Ministry of Transportation also says it will build at least one wildlife overpass for mammals across the Highway 69 expansion between Sudbury and Parry Sound. It will be similar to 10 such structures that have been built over the Trans-Canada Highway in Banff National Park.
In Richmond Hill, environmentalists claimed a victory about five years ago by having small culverts built under the Bayview Ave. extension through the Oak Ridges Moraine to protect Jefferson salamanders.
But the zoo's curator of conservation programs, Dave Ireland, says he can count on his fingers the number of animal passages under and over Ontario roads.
"British Columbia has policy that demands planners and designers take into account wildlife. We have no policy specifically for wildlife mitigation in and around roads," he says.
While planners and developers are beginning to talk to conservation officials about road expansions, such as the planned Highway 407 route to Clarington through the moraine and Greenbelt areas, ecologists would like those discussions to take place before roads are mapped in such a way that they separate animals from the wetlands they need to breed and feed.
Frog populations, still healthy elsewhere in the province, have almost disappeared here. Six of eight native turtle species are endangered, five of them victims of traffic.
"The wood turtle has all but been extirpated from the Toronto area, where it was thriving 50 years ago," laments Ireland. "You're 10 times more likely to see the American badger dead than you are alive. It's endangered. An almost explicit cause of its status is roads and vehicular traffic."
Road ecologists say data tracking the impact of vehicles is crucial to persuade planners and policy-makers to account for wildlife in road design.
Turtles, for example, are extremely long-lived, and their offspring have a low survival rate. So, relatively few casualties can have a serious impact on a local population.
"The death of turtles is different from the road deaths of mammals like rabbits, skunks and raccoons," says avid conservationist and Brampton teacher Don Scallen. "The survival strategy of these mammals is to breed at an early age and to offer some measure of parental care to their offspring. They don't wait long to become parents, and then the young they produce have a better chance of survival than young turtles."
Scallen was heading to Long Point on April 17 when he came upon a turtle carcass on Highway 24 near Brantford.
Scallen got out of the car for a closer look. By its yellow throat and high- domed shell, he recognized it as a Blanding's turtle, a protected species that's in serious decline. A search revealed six more casualties.
"It was the first warm day after a cool period," Scallen says. "The suspicion is they were hibernating on one side of the road and they wanted to get to the other side, where they would spend the spring and summer, and then return to the east side in the fall."
Fortunately, he found three living turtles and ferried them across.
"Research has found that more than 93 per cent of adult Blanding's turtles need to survive each year to maintain a stable population. In areas like the turtle crossing on Highway 24, the survival rate is likely much lower," says Scallen. "If they're dying at that rate, that population will plummet very fast. "
Scallen's report to the zoo's Turtle Tally, part of its Adopt-a-Pond program, is the kind of public input ecologists are encouraging.
Last month, the zoo hosted a road ecology conference of about 120 transportation planners, conservationists and scientists - people who seldom end up in the same room. The largest contingent of delegates was from the Ontario Ministry of Transportation. It's a hopeful sign, says Ireland.
But some believe the window for gathering data is closing as development and roads gallop ahead to keep pace with the region's growth.
Animals have to be studied before a road separates them from their native wetlands. Then the species needs tracking after a road is built, and wildlife passages need careful study to ensure animals are using them to advantage.
Another window is closing, too, suggests Scallen: "You don't miss what you don't know. It's important to bring knowledge of these creatures to kids as much as possible and inculcate the appreciation of them."
But how do you do that if children can't see the animals?
http://www.thestar.com/article/429514
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« Antwoord #6 Gepost op: 11 Oktober 2008, 19:13:46 »

THE GUARDIAN (Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island) 29 March 08 Finding Norbert - Since he was found in Summerside four years ago, Norbert the abandoned wood turtle has enjoyed his free daytime reign and range in one department of the Atlantic Veterinary College in Charlottetown (Mary MacKay)
Ah, the life of Norbert.
After all, not every wood turtle has free reign and range of an entire department at the Atlantic Veterinary College (AVC) in Charlottetown, dines royally on finely diced foods and celebrates celebrity status among students, staff and visitors alike.
“He’s quite a star around here,” AVC animal resources technician Angie Harnish says of Norbert, who is of the Clemmys insculpta of semi-aquatic wood turtle kind.
“I’ll be sitting at my desk at the end of the day and the students will walk by (his cage) and say, ‘Hi, Norbert!’ People will stop and talk to him. And I’m not talking just students either, it’s professors and researchers. Everybody stops by and knows him by name and says hello.”
Norbert is by no means an introverted turtle with his head and legs withdrawn from the world. Instead he’s always on the ready to run in his ungainly turtle-style gait. In fact, if he’s held too long, his legs kick into motion, signaling that it’s time to get down and go.
“These turtles would normally walk several kilometres a day so we let him get his exercise to stimulate his appetite and good health,” says his guardian, Wayne Petley, manager of the Animal Resources Department at the AVC.
Although P.E.I.’s wilds are wood turtle-less, these shelled reptiles do call New Brunswick and Nova Scotia home, where they are a protected species.
Despite Norbert’s ability to move pretty darned quick when he wants to, it isn’t likely that he crossed on his own four feet to P.E.I. via the great Confederation Bridge divide.
Instead Fisheries and Oceans personnel retrieved him from a front lawn of a Summerside home about four years ago. Petley suspects he was taken from the wild and subsequently let go here.
Because Norbert’s history was unknown — how long ago that he was captured or how reliant upon humans he was — he was taken into the AVC’s orphaned turtles fold instead of being reintroduced to the wild.
Norbert is a typical 12-year-old. He has plenty of energy to burn and is bursting with boundless curiosity.
“This sort of species is known to be the smartest of the turtles,” Petley says.
“So this turtle can compete with a lab rat in terms of intelligence.”
The proof is in the path that Norbert plots each day. Instead of wandering aimlessly down the corridor, he usually bypasses a myriad of doors in a beeline for the lab that houses an electron microscope, his utmost favourite dark, warm hidey-hole.
“He has about 10 of his favourite hiding spots that we all spend 10 minutes on our hands and knees looking for him in around 4:15 (p.m.) every day,” says Lee Dawson, a technologist with AVC’s Animal Resources Department.
“Anywhere dark and hidden away – the darkest, farthest part of this place is where you’ll find Norbert.”
When one AVC staffer was gone for a month, the lab door was shut, causing Norbert some serious consternation.
“We’d let him go down the hall and he’d sit outside the door with his head looking up at the window. And he’d sit like that for hour, looking like ‘OK, come on. Open the door. I’m going to sit here till you open the door,’ “ Harnish says, laughing.
“He was beside himself because he couldn’t get in.”
Despite constantly being underfoot, Norbert hasn’t been stepped on or caught in a closing door. Just to give passers-through a heads up about the wee creature underfoot, there are signs advising people to “Please keep doors closed. Wood turtle exercising in this corridor.”
“Every so often someone will say, ‘Do you know there’s a turtle on the loose out here?’ ” Dawson adds with a smile.
Norbert is footloose and fancy free all day, but it’s turtle roundup time every day at work’s end. More often than not it’s just a matter of checking Norbert’s favourite spots but sometimes he’s MIA.
“He’s gone astray sometimes. We’ve had incidents where we’ve had to have UPEI security help us because if somebody leaves a door open, he’ll wander down the halls,” Petley says.
“Some of us were a bit stressed to make sure that he was back in his home for the night with his food . . . . We’ve had some late nights until we found him.”
Norbert eats meat, but his main diet consists of fruits and vegetables.
“They’re called opportunistic omnivores, so they’ll eat just about anything that comes along,” Petley says.
“So in the wild he would probably eat insects, small frogs maybe, whatever he can catch, some vegetation, some berries.”
Feeding time for Norbert at the AVC is like the Turtle Hotel Ritz. He is served the best cat food available for his protein requirements, and the rest of his diet is comprised of whatever berries are in season, especially strawberries, as well as melons, lettuce, tomatoes and more.
“We’ve got him a bit spoiled really,” Harnish says. “In the wild, he’d have to eat a strawberry whole, but we cut it up. I’m bad. I cut it up in teeny little pieces and I’ll shred the lettuce into little bits . . . .
“If I feed him, the next morning most of his food will be gone, but if (someone else) is in a rush and it’s not ripped up good enough, he won’t eat it . . . . In that way, he does have a personality.”
There’s only one thing lacking in this turtle utopia.
“That’s right, there is no Mrs. (Norbert),” Petley says.
There is, however, a small population of other orphaned turtles being housed at the AVC, but their species is almost completely aquatic so they spend all their time in an aquarium.
It might seem that Norbert is living the free life, but he does provide a service for his keep.
“Not only is he a great teaching model for AVC students, he is also a major mascot, especially during open house day and summer vet camps for children.
“In an institute like this where (the students are) learning about all kinds of animals, to have these are really, really valuable because a lot of people have never even come close,” Petley says.
“The children, when they come here for the open house, are just floored. They’ve never seen anything like it.”
In terms of longevity, Norbert could outlast most of the AVC staff’s career span but there’s no fear of him not faring well with the next generation.
“He is as affectionate as a turtle goes but not a cuddly pet,” Petley says.
“They have personalities, especially this species . . . . They all have a little bit of a personality.”
Think carefully before bringing home a turtle
Choosing a turtle as a pet is a decision people should weigh heavily before taking the plunge.
Like other exotic animals, turtles require specialized dietary, housing and medical needs.
“I think the biggest issue with the turtle trade, people don’t realize how long they live,” says Wayne Petley, manager of the aquatic facility at the Atlantic Veterinary College (AVC) in Charlottetown.
For example, Norbert, a rescued wood turtle who now lives at the AVC, could live up to 50 years in the wild and even longer in captivity.
“If you have a pet that lives over 30 to 50 years, kids grow up, they move away and parents usually end up with the turtle.
“And that’s usually the case of orphans being dropped off,” Petley.
“So it’s a long-lived animal and they grow. They don’t stay little.”
However, in the case of Norbert, who is a semi-aquatic wood turtle native to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, he and the rest of his species should be left to roam in their home habitat.
“This is a protected species,” Petley says.
“So that’s why I have a bit of an issue of taking these animals from the wild because they are protected. This one is not really endangered right now but they are at risk, and one of the main reasons they are at risk is because they are so easy to catch.
“And they’re quite friendly tame turtles so people tend to pick them up and then they take them . . . .
“They should be left where they are.”
http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/index.cfm?sid=121407&sc=100
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« Antwoord #7 Gepost op: 11 Oktober 2008, 21:00:45 »

STAR-LEDGER (Newark, New Jersey) 23 March 08 Slow critters block expansion (Leslie Kwoh and Robert E. Williams III)
Two wood turtles that look like this one could interfere with expansion plans for Morris Township's recreational fields. On summer nights, thousands of soccer players, Little Leaguers and Pee-Wee football players flock to recreation fields in Morris and Harding townships. But there isn't always enough space. The need for new fields is such that many players are forced to travel to surrounding towns to play sports.
So last year, Morris Township began eyeing a 16-acre site bordering Route 287 in Harding Township to build additional recreational fields. Morris officials began drawing up plans to build two multipurpose artificial turf playing fields, a concession stand and restroom facilities there.
Now, those plans could be at risk -- because of two turtles.
Two local scientists have found that the area near the proposed fields are already being used by wood turtles, a threatened species state officials say were once found in large groups and now are found only in small numbers because their habitat is disappearing.
The sightings could alter Morris Township's plans to build the Mount Kemble Recreation Complex. According to planning maps presented by township officials, the two proposed fields are tightly sandwiched between two wetlands areas protected by the state.
If the turtle sightings are confirmed by the state Department of Environmental Protection, the existing 50-foot buffer zones could be increased to 150 feet, DEP officials said. Maps show the increased buffers would overlap with the area set aside for the fields.
Morris Township officials say they are determined to see the project through.
"We have to wait and see," Morris Township Mayor Robert Nace said of the impact the turtle sightings may have on the proposal to build the complex. "We will do whatever legal efforts we will have to do to be OK."
According to the sighting report, filed with the DEP last month, a male turtle was spotted resting under a plant in 2001, and a female turtle was seen sunbathing on the banks of a stream. The sightings were within 600 feet of the proposed development site, across Route 287 on a 50-acre conservation area owned by the Great Swamp Watershed Association.
The turtles were near Silver Brook, a small stream that runs from a tributary located at the development site, said biologist and wildlife photographer Blaine Rothauser, who filed the rare wildlife sighting report for Great Swamp association.
The water in Silver Brook flows from one side of Route 287 to the other through a 4-foot-wide storm pipe -- a path Rothauser says the turtles might also follow.
"It's like their Holland Tunnel," he said.
"They have to get to our property from somewhere," added Sally Rubin, executive director of the Great Swamp Watershed Association. "They don't just drop down from parachutes."
Rothauser suspects the turtles are still there, as they are known to live up to 60 years. He also believes the area is home to more than just two turtles.
"You got a male, you got a female. You figure the site will hold more turtles," he said, but added: "If you clear that amount of land, you're going to impact the water quality there. It could affect the species' ability to perpetuate into the future."
The next step is for the DEP to verify that the turtles live at the site, said spokesman Lawrence Hajna. The process should take "several weeks," and could require sending a state biologist to the area. In some cases, if the person filing the application has "expertise in the field," the sightings can be verified without a site visit, he said.
"Credibility is a big factor," Hajna said. "It's done on a case-by-case basis."
The DEP does not know how many turtles live in the Great Swamp area, though a verified sighting in 1999 suggests the species does inhabit the general area, he said.
The wood turtle has been listed as threatened species in New Jersey since the 1970s, and is among 80 threatened or endangered species in the state, according to the DEP. They are found mainly in the northern part of the state, and depend on wetlands and streams for breeding and burrowing.
This is not the first time wood turtles have threatened development plans. Chatham officials had planned to build two ballfields, a 9/11 memorial and a parking facility at Woodland Park, a 6.6-acre site the borough purchased in 2002. Those plans have been put on hold indefinitely after wood turtle sightings in 2005 were verified by the DEP.
The Mount Kemble Recreation complex was proposed last year as a way to relieve a shortage of playing space. The project will cost an estimated $3.8 million and construction is slated to begin later this year if Morris Township gets approval from Harding.
Morris United Soccer coach John Gilfillan, whose organization has more than 1,000 children playing in its soccer programs, said turtles or no turtles, he's confident Morris Township officials will do whatever is necessary to meet all DEP requirements. And he hopes that work leads to new fields.
"If it turns out to negatively impact the project, that would mean a tremendous setback for the children of the greater Morris Township area," Gilfillan said.
http://www.nj.com/morristown/index.ssf/2008/03/slow_critters_block_rec_fields.html
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« Antwoord #8 Gepost op: 11 Oktober 2008, 21:02:12 »

BAY WEEKLY (Annapolis, Maryland) 28 February 08 Reptile Rules - New state regulations protect creatures that  ik duim voor je, crawl and slither (Carrie Madren)
Host a copperhead snake as a pet in Maryland, and you’ll soon be an outlaw.
That’s because new rules will govern the capture and possession of reptiles and amphibians after March.
Nearly a dozen changed regulations will affect Maryland turtle keeping or frog leg eating. Most new rules will simply get our Maryland Register code up to date with new laws. Other changes will protect diminishing species losing their homes.
The poisonous copperhead and Eastern mud salamander will join the list of protected species — a handful of sea turtles, rare salamanders, snakes and frogs — that cannot be captured, bred or sold in the state.
Copperhead snakes get banned from our living spaces not to protect the snakes but to bring Department of Natural Resources regulations up to speed on laws passed by the General Assembly. Last year, legislators changed the law on harboring dangerous animals to ban possession of poisonous snakes. That’s stricter than the current law, which only bans importing the venomous serpents.
The Eastern mud salamander, a rare native species, gets protection for its own sake.
“These salamanders are likely declining in range,” says Glenn Therres, of the department’s Wildlife and Heritage Service. “It’s not a popular species as a pet, so there will probably be no ramifications.”
French chefs and 10-year-old boys will mourn one cutback: New regulations allow you no more than 10 wild American bullfrogs for food or pets. Bullfrogs weren’t previously on the list of regulated species.
“Bullfrogs are native, but they have flourished by human releases,” says Therres. “There’s a food market for bullfrogs. We’re trying to regulate all species, so we added bullfrogs and made provisions for food. We’re not trying to regulate the food industry but to curtail exploiting the native population.”
So you can’t set up shop as a frog-leg distributor. The legs you might find at markets may hail from Louisiana, which raises bullfrogs for food.
New to the state conservation list are six aquatic turtles: the eastern painted turtle, the midland painted turtle, the eastern mud turtle, the northern red-bellied cooter, the stinkpot and the diamondback terrapin. Turtle enthusiasts can have up to one adult turtle without a $25 permit and more with the permit.
If you’re already keeping more than one native turtle, you must apply for a grandfathering permit with DNR by March 31.
If you want your turtles to propagate, you’ll also need a breeding permit.
“A few years ago the General Assembly was petitioned by herpetology folks to allow for breeding of turtles,” Therres says. The Health Department had previously limited breeding for fear of spreading salmonella, he explained, until lawmakers passed a law allowing turtle breeding with a permit.
“DNR was always in support of captive breeding, which provides turtles for hobbyists and pets,” says Therres. If you don’t breed the turtles yourself — with a permit — you must buy them from out of state. Currently, any turtle that you sell must have a carapace length of at least four inches.
That law got a Towson couple in trouble on Jan. 31. Maryland Natural Resources Police busted them for selling undersized juvenile red-eared slider turtles through an Internet advertisement. The couple had originally purchased 300 turtles and had sold all but 27 of them from their apartment. For their reptilian folly, the sellers were each issued a citation; if found guilty, they’ll face a maximum penalty of $500 and/or one-year imprisonment.
New changes in the law include allowing us to buy and sell baby turtles — less than four inches produced in captivity, with a permit — outside of Maryland.
“We don’t have a problem with turtles in the pet trade, but we’re encouraging that they come from captivity, so there’s less pressure on wild populations and they can be sustained,” he says.
Terrapin champion Marguerite Whilden insists it’s a bad idea to allow people to breed and keep terrapins as pets.
“Now we’re going to give to someone else the chance to commercialize these turtles,” says Whilden, terrapin teacher and advocate. “Do we still need to be exploiting wildlife?”
The new herp laws will be a good, albeit miniscule, step for our state reptile.
When new regulations pass, Marylanders — even with a permit — can’t take wood turtles, spotted turtles or diamondback terrapins, our state reptile, from the wild.
“You can still legally acquire them from captive breeding programs,” Therres says, with a permit. After the legislators passed the ban on commercial terrapin harvesting, DNR banned all catching in the wild. The department also shifted terrapin regulations from its fisheries office to Wildlife and Heritage.
Even so, the there’s by-catch — or accidental trapping — of terrapins in crabpots that remains a problem, according to Whilden, who says her next focus is getting more habitat back for the state turtle. That’s a concern at DNR, too.
“The problem with all turtles is that population decreases primarily with reduction of adults in population,” Therres says. Add a shrinking adult population to disappearing sandy shorelines and turtle habitat, and we have a recipe for species trouble.
The state of our terrapins remains an educated guess at best. Terrapins are still so understudied that scientists don’t know how many thrive in the Chesapeake.
Laws will officially change when published in March in the Maryland Register.
See the complete list of changes to reptile and amphibian laws at www.dnr.state.md.us/wildlife/proposedcaptive.asp.
http://www.bayweekly.com/year08/issuexvi9/leadxvi9_2.html
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« Antwoord #9 Gepost op: 11 Oktober 2008, 21:03:47 »

Mich. lawmaker: Let turtles be roadkill
He opposes $318,000 fence aimed at protecting species, avoiding crashes

Associated Press

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - A congressman disputes the state's contention that it's worth $318,000 in federal money to keep turtles from becoming roadkill.

Installation is expected to begin this week on a 2-mile-long fence along both sides of U.S. 31 in Muskegon, in west-central Michigan. It is intended to prevent hundreds of turtles, some of them protected species, from being killed as they migrate to nesting sites along the Muskegon River, which the highway crosses.

Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., questions why the Michigan Department of Transportation did not consider using the money on other projects "more related to the movement of people and products."

"Serious times require a serious approach to the very real problems Michigan faces," Hoekstra said in a news release.

The 4-foot-high chain-link fence has been planned for two years. State officials consider it a relatively inexpensive solution to a problem that affects traffic safety and the environment of rare turtle species.

The fence will cover a stretch of road that is Michigan's deadliest for turtles and one of the nation's worst for the reptiles, Tim Judge, manager of a Transportation Department service center in Muskegon, said Thursday.

Two state-protected species — the wood turtle and Blanding's turtle — are common traffic victims, as are snapper, painted, box and map turtles.

Department spokeswoman Dawn Garner didn't know whether any drivers swerving to avoid turtles have gotten into crashes, but said: "There is definitely the potential for improving the safety of motorists."

The barrier is being financed through the federal government's transportation-enhancement program. Money from the program must be used to improve the public's traveling experience but cannot be spent on building or repairing roads.

Hoekstra, who has questioned the fence project since it was proposed, said the state should have petitioned federal officials to use the money for road construction.

"The state has not requested greater flexibility in how to spend federal highway dollars, and Lansing bureaucrats need to begin to think more creatively in how they address our state's problems," he said.

Article Link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21377685/from/ET/
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« Antwoord #10 Gepost op: 11 Oktober 2008, 21:05:03 »

CHRONICLE HERALD (Halifax, Nova Scotia) 05 October 07 Patched, hatched and dispatched - Rescued wonder turtle’s baby released into St. Marys River (Kelly Shiers)
This toonie-size turtle has quite a tale: Call it the sequel to the summer’s survival story.
In Chapter 1, a wood turtle run over by a passing vehicle was found by a sharp-eyed motorcycle cop on a busy Halifax street, rushed to surgery, nursed to health and finally recognized and returned to her bucolic river home hundreds of kilometres away.
But Dunlop, named for the tire that split her shell, was pregnant when she arrived at Oaklawn Farm Zoo in Aylesford, where she was taken in July to recuperate from the trauma of her near-fatal ordeal.
And that’s where Chapter 2 begins.
"Every night before I left work and every morning when I got here, I went down to the pond and checked for eggs," said Mike Brobbel, the zoo’s reptile curator, who cared for the injured critter.
His was a task all the more critical because the number of wood turtles has dropped so much that it is considered one of the province’s vulnerable species.
The worry, Mr. Brobbel said, was that the stressed-out Dunlop was already weeks late laying those eggs and if she didn’t release them soon, she would be in danger again.
"Over three or four days, she was just dropping them here and there," he said. "I found six eggs. One was collapsed and two were torn up, so there were only possibly three that could actually be incubated."
The precious mini-eggs went into the zoo’s incubator July 21, three weeks before Dunlop was deemed well enough to go home — not to the streets of Halifax but across the province to a spot along St. Marys River in Pictou County.
Mark Pulsifer, a biologist with the province’s Natural Resources Department in Antigonish, was one of the scientists who organized the mother’s release.
He had a special interest in making sure she got home because he had recognized Dunlop from a picture in The Chronicle Herald that appeared when she was first found. The triangular markings visible on her shell were artificial and proved that Dunlop was Turtle No. 1536, notched as a research subject in one of his own studies.
At the time, he said he could only surmise that someone had picked her up in Pictou County, even perhaps thinking she might make a good pet, and then let her loose.
But Mr. Pulsifer wasn’t only determined to bring her back to familiar waters. He wasn’t about to let any of her little ones go astray, either.
"Right from the very start, when Mike (Brobbel) first told me he had eggs, I told him, ‘Please make sure I get any hatchlings so I can return them to the population where they belong,’ " he said.
"There was never any doubt whether it was one or 10 that they were all coming home. They were all coming back to this area."
So a story that might have ended with the mother’s release back to the wild on a rainy summer day instead continued.
On Sept. 6, one hatchling (too young for anyone to tell its sex) broke out of its egg, weighing only 6.39 grams. The news was bittersweet. More would have been better but one was still a success.
For a week, Mr. Brobbel waited and watched. And when it seemed to be eating fine on its own, he contacted Mr. Pulsifer.
Last week, Mr. Pulsifer went to the zoo to pick up the baby.
The next morning, he placed it in the river, about a kilometre from the spot where its mother had been released, to an area where he hopes the turtle might be able to survive its first winter.
"I didn’t want to handle the turtle any more than I had to or stress it any more than I had to," he said, explaining why he didn’t notch this one in the same way its mother was marked by students in 2005.
As a result, there’s really no way to track whether this little one survives.
The odds, he said, are stacked against it. But then the odds are against these kinds of turtles, anyway. As many as 95 per cent of eggs never develop, are eaten or somehow destroyed before they hatch. Even if they do hatch, the chances of these bite-sized babies surviving to adulthood are minimal at best.
Certainly the odds have been against these turtles at every turn.
But human nature has trumped Mother Nature, at least for now.
Significantly, Dunlop’s baby may be one of a very few hatchlings along that stretch of the St. Marys River to have survived through the summer and into the fall. A flood had submerged 22 nests that were under the close watch of Mr. Pulsifer’s student researchers, and none of those turtles seem to have lived.
"One turtle counts," Mr. Pulsifer said.
"Maybe that one turtle we save will be that one that does live to be 15 or 16 and then goes on to live 30 years after that and successfully reproduces. Maybe that one turtle turns out to be a female, and she in turn will lay eight to 10 eggs every year for her adult life — for 30 or 40 years — and that will make a difference."
So all this effort for a vulnerable population is well worth even an uncertain outcome, he said, chalking up the human intervention to two things.
"One, because we can," he said. "And two, because we care."
http://www.thechronicleherald.ca/Front/936948.html
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« Antwoord #11 Gepost op: 11 Oktober 2008, 21:07:18 »

CHRONICLE-HERALD (Halifax, Nova Scotia) 11 August 07 T L C; Dunlop, the little wood turtle that was run over on a busy road this summer, isn't just any turtle. She's Turtle No. 1536. (Kelly Shiers)
This is a turtle tale with a twist: a saga that starts off sorely with a wounded, pregnant wood turtle on a busy Halifax street and ends, in true storybook form, at a picturesque Pictou County stream hundreds of kilometres away.
Her fabled cousin learned that slow and steady wins the race. But perhaps the lesson this time is that a little help from strangers can make finishing even the most difficult trek a lot more possible. "This is where she belongs. This is home," Mark Pulsifer said as he led a group of scientists and onlookers to a spot along East River St. Marys on Thursday.
In his hands he held the squirming wood turtle, her legs thrashing flashes of bright orange in the pouring rain, her head straining out of a shell scarred by the ordeal of being struck by a vehicle early last month.
"She's picked up the scent of the river. . . . She knows she's home," added John Gilhen, a wood turtle expert and former curator of the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History.
"I think this is a marvellous thing."
Marvellous. And unlikely.
Just last month, the chances that this turtle would survive, let alone ever swim again in familiar territory, were almost nil.
Mr. Gilhen remembers reading The Chronicle Herald story about a pregnant turtle that had been rescued by a sharp-eyed motorcycle cop after she was run over on the city's busy Purcells Cove Road. He looked at the picture of Dunlop (nicknamed for the tire that likely ran over her) taken at the Dartmouth Veterinary Hospital, where her broken shell had been pieced together with fibreglass and resin.
What he saw were the small, telltale trian-gular markings filed onto her shell that showed Dunlop had once been documented by researchers.
"I recognized that turtle as one of ours as soon as I saw it," Mr. Gilhen said, adding he believed she had likely come from along the Musquodoboit River, the St. Marys River or perhaps even River Inhabitants in Cape Breton.
"I thought, 'This girl's going home. She's lucky.' "
That same day, Mr. Pulsifer, a regional biologist with the province's Natural Resources Department in Antigonish, was also reading the story. He also noticed the tiny triangular shapes notched into the turtle's shell. But as the man who heads up a wood turtle project on the St. Marys River, he was even more certain about those marks.
"When I saw the notching pattern, I said, 'It's one of ours.' "
Mr. Pulsifer wondered, and continues to wonder, how she got so far from home.
But he knew two things for sure.
"We wanted that turtle back here . . . and we also wanted the hatchlings."
After staff searched through their records, Dunlop was eventually identified as Turtle No. 1536, notched by students working on the St. Marys River in 2005. But the information also revealed that she hadn't actually been found by the students. In fact, that year they were even surveying for turtles along that particular stretch of waterway. Rather, she'd been brought to them by a passerby who found her, likely as she tried a perilous crawl across the road. The researchers notched her, made notes about where she was found and then returned her to the water in that area.
"That is how we know this is the exact location," Mr. Pulsifer said. "This is it."
By the time Mr. Pulsifer had gathered that information, the injured turtle was recuperating at Oaklawn Zoo in Aylesford under the watchful care of experienced reptile curator Mike Brobbel.
And that's where she stayed, foraging with 20 or so other turtles in a closed pond, until Wednesday, when Mr. Gilhen placed her in a dog carrier in the back of his car to begin the trek home (with just one overnight stop at Mr. Gilhen's Halifax home). She left behind three eggs that are now in a zoo incubator and Mr. Brobbel says if they hatch next month, they'll be "the icing on the cake."
But why all the fuss over a turtle?
"When you look at these big, black, weepy eyes, you fall in love with them," Mr. Gilhen enthused that day. And perhaps that's true.
But what's also true is that wood turtles, one of only four turtle species native to this province, is considered vulnerable - just a step below threatened.
Its situation is so serious that a management team, including Mr. Gilhen and Mr. Pulsifer, is working to try to ensure its population survives, through ongoing research and education and by working with landowners to protect their preferred habitat, the meandering rivers that wind through valleys and prime agricultural land.
"They're dwindling mainly because people take them home as pets," Mr. Gilhen said.
"Not only is it illegal to do that, but it's a darn shame. They take them home, show them to the kids, and then let them go," he said, guessing that could be what happened to this one. "There are probably hundreds of wood turtles just wandering around in the woods of Nova Scotia for the rest of their lives - and that could be 20, 30, 40, 50 years - completely useless to the breeding population."
The loss of even one adult female is a huge blow, Mr. Pulsifer said. "A female can probably reproduce for 20 to 30 years, so to lose a female like her means you're losing eight to 10 eggs every year. And even if only five per cent (of those eggs) - if that many - would survive, that, over time, is a significant loss."
Mr. Pulsifer said the research and conservation work underway now will make a long-term difference to the wood turtle population, but the effects might not be known for decades.
Still, this case shows the value of their work, he said.
"We know this project is doing good because we've got this turtle back here," he said.
The fact that so many people were interested in getting this turtle well and home again is very telling.
"It says something about us as a people if we have that understanding and we want to make sure our wildlife is secure," Mr. Gilhen said. "If people would just kill them or discard them, then that says something else about the people."
Of course, all of that was lost to the story's main character as she was carried down the slippery slope to the river's edge Thursday. With a splash, she was released from the hands of Kyle Biggar, one of the St. Francis Xavier University students working on the wood turtle project this year.
She floated momentarily on the surface before quickly moving out of sight of the rain-drenched scientists, students and interested onlookers who waited on the road above to see the latest chapter of her story unfold.
And when she was gone, with just a little prompting, they cheered.

http://www.thechronicleherald.ca/Search/852578.html
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« Antwoord #12 Gepost op: 11 Oktober 2008, 21:08:39 »

CHRONICLE HERALD (Nova Scotia) 05 July 07 Underneath this Halifax cop’s shell is a soft spot for wildlife - Officer rushes injured, expectant turtle to safety after it was run over by a car (Josh Visser)
A Halifax motorcycle cop was looking for speeders Tuesday afternoon on Purcells Cove Road when he noticed a car swerve, then another, then another.
"At first I thought someone was secretly trying on their seatbelt to avoid getting a ticket," said Sgt. Mike Spearns of Halifax Regional Police. But after seeing the second and third car swerve in the same area, the officer decided to investigate.
Little did he know that he would be the first responder in the dramatic rescue of a pregnant mother, a rescue that would extend over two days and involve three hospitals.
Arriving at the scene, Sgt. Spearns found an injured wood turtle, its shell cracked after having been struck by a vehicle.
Needing a car to take the animal to a veterinarian, Sgt. Spearns immediately called for backup and began performing first aid.
"I got a little water for it, as it appeared stunned, but it certainly was trying to move, so I kept it in place with my feet," he said.
Sgt. Spearns named the turtle Dunlop, figuring that was the brand of tire that hit the female turtle.
Const. Marcus Reeves arrived in a police cruiser and rushed Dunlop to the Spryfield Animal Hospital.
"He put (Dunlop) in a nice box in an air-conditioned car," Sgt. Spearns said of his colleague.
After a short stay in Spryfield, Dunlop was sent to the Metro Animal Emergency Clinic overnight Tuesday and was moved to the Dartmouth Veterinary Hospital for surgery Wednesday.
An hour before the surgery Wednesday afternoon, Dr. Ian McKay at the Dartmouth Veterinary Hospital said that Dunlop had fractures on the top and underside of her shell.
He described a complicated-sounding procedure in which the vet would apply fibreglass mesh and fibreglass epoxy and possibly some stainless steel wire to "pull the fracture line together."
Adding to the tension was the discovery that Dunlop is pregnant, so to speak, with 11 eggs to lay.
Wood turtles, which are a "vulnerable" species in Canada, normally lay their eggs in late June or early July.
After a nearly 90-minute surgery, Dr. McKay left the operating table, able to call the procedure a success.
"The surgery went beautifully," Aundrea Smith of the Dartmouth Veterinary Hospital said on behalf of Dr. McKay early Wednesday evening.
The next step for Dunlop was to move in with Hope Swinimer, the director of Hope for Wildlife, a rehabilitation centre for wildlife in Seaforth.
Ms. Swinimer said Dunlop appeared in fine spirits and that the turtle would have a habitat built for her at the centre.
She added that Dr. McKay would be checking the turtle out today to see if antibiotics were needed to help Dunlop with her eggs, which she is expected to lay any time now.
It’s been quite the trip for the little turtle that tried to cross the road, but it wouldn’t have gotten far without the compassion of Sgt. Spearns.
The sergeant took a moment to think philosophically about what he accomplished Tuesday.
"Normally the police are out there after the hare, not the tortoise," he said. "I’m glad I was there because the poor thing would have been squished if we hadn’t been able to get it off the road."

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Metro/845472.html
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« Antwoord #13 Gepost op: 11 Oktober 2008, 21:10:04 »

RUTLAND HERALD (Vermont) 30 November 06 Guilty plea filed on turtle charges (Susan Smallheer)
White River Junction: A 30-year-old Londonderry woman pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges that she tried to ship several wild Vermont turtles to Florida.
Jilian Congdon was fined $150 by District Judge Robert Bent, who also levied about $50 in surcharges and court costs. Congdon could have been fined $500.
The case came to the attention of Vermont Fish and Wildlife officials after a box that Congdon dropped off at Bibens Hardware and Home Center in Springfield for pickup by United Parcel Service started moving.
According to court records, Congdon told the employees at Bibens that the box contained worms, and after the box started moving, she changed her story and said it actually contained an iguana.
But when the UPS driver heard about the moving box, he refused to accept it for shipment, since it contained a live animal.
And Bibens' employees, using a flashlight, peered into the holes in the box and discovered the turtles. They opened the box to give the turtles more air and eventually called Fish and Wildlife officials.
According to court records, Congdon was trying to ship a total of seven turtles to a man in Florida for $200. Congdon told police in a written statement that the turtles belonged to her son, but that the family wanted to get a dog instead and found a willing buyer in Florida via the Internet.
The turtles included two domesticated, pet-store variety turtles, according to Steven Parren, a biologist with the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department and chief of the nongame and natural heritage program.
But Parren said two of the turtles were North American wood turtles, approximately two and six years old that Parren said based on their behavior and growth pattern were taken from the wild. He also said that three other turtles were young western pond turtles.
In Vermont, it is illegal to possess any live wild bird or animal of any kind without a permit from the state.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061130/NEWS/611300367/1003/NEWS02
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« Antwoord #14 Gepost op: 11 Oktober 2008, 21:11:14 »

BOSTON GLOBE (Massachusetts) 16 October 06 For 'genius grant' naturalist, turtles are a lifetime passion - Turtles are the stuff of his dreams (Peter DeMarco)
Warner, N.H.: David Carroll walks slowly through waist-high underbrush, his eyes scanning for wood turtles hiding among the thorns and fallen leaves.
The seven- and eight-inch-long creatures blend in with the brown earth, but if he's lucky this day, he says, he might catch one basking in the autumnal sun.
Carroll, who says he needs to regularly indulge his ``swamp habit," has discovered some 200 wood turtles in this flood plain near his home. ``I've known some individual turtles out here for 18 years," he says.
``I come out here with . . . my calipers for measuring shell lengths," he said. ``Here I am, so 19th century."
Carroll is indeed 19th century -- like Henry David Thoreau himself. A naturalist, artist, and author, he has spent more than four decades studying freshwater turtles, capturing their slow-moving lives through thousands of detailed illustrations and books such as ``Swampwalker's Journal," ``Self-Portrait with Turtles," and ``The Year of the Turtle."
Last month, the MacArthur Foundation rewarded Carroll's devotion to turtles and to the preservation of local ecosystems with one of its prestigious ``genius" grants. The $500,000 award is a financial boon to any recipient, but perhaps none this year more so than Carroll, 64, whose finances are such that he hasn't been able to afford health insurance for 30 years.
``The only part is I've got to live the next five years to receive all the money, so I'm considering just sitting all day in the rocking chair with a bike helmet on," he said, his dry wit ever present. ``My friends have told me, `Don't shovel any snow.' "
That Carroll marches to his own beat there is no question. As an art teacher at Silver Lake Regional High School in Kingston , Mass., in the late 1960s he ``walked to school, bought his clothes at second-hand stores, and was rumored to have turtles living in his bathtub," recalls former student Wendy Wyman Campbell. At age 60, he took up German -- he already knew Italian and Spanish -- and became so proficient that he co-taught a high school German class two years ago.
Philosophically, he stands at the far end of the naturalist movement, lobbying not only for conservation lands to be set aside but for lands to be preserved as untouched habitats where not even bikers, hikers, or joggers are allowed.
His message isn't always popular, but audiences are drawn to him nonetheless, both as a charismatic speaker and a writer who crafts mundane field observations -- a love triangle between three spotted turtles, the drowning of a female ruby meadowfly -- into intensely personal stories.
``He just has a wonderful ability to convey not just the importance of protecting the natural world, but also for conveying the very interesting things that happen there," said Tom Irwin, a friend and staff attorney with the Conservation Law Foundation's New Hampshire office.
Carroll was 8 when he fell in love with turtles. His parents had just moved the family to Connecticut, where his father was in the Navy, and Carroll went wandering past his new backyard into some wetlands. Spotting a turtle in a clear patch of water, he jumped in, shoes and all, to grab it.
``I came home that evening with a turtle in my hands and my shoes were soaked and I was late for supper," he remembers. ``Well, I'll tell you, getting your shoes wet and being late for supper were pretty much capital offenses in my mother's house."
And that was before they noticed the turtle.
But there was no stifling Carroll's fascination. The following spring, when the turtles came out of hibernation, he trekked into the swamp to find, draw, and catalog them. And he has done so ever since, arranging his life so that he can spend some time almost every day from spring to fall among the turtles.
Trained as an artist -- Carroll and his wife, Laurette, met during their ``urban era" at Boston's School of the Museum of Fine Arts -- his intricate drawings and careful observations of wood, spotted, and Blanding's turtles have become highly respected within the scientific community. He has lectured at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, helped dozens of biology graduate students with field research, and has been a steady contributor to scientific journals.
``The insight and the information provided in his books are incredible as a resource for somebody like me," says Jackie Litzgus, a professor of biology at Laurentian University in Canada who has spent 16 years researching spotted turtles. ``He's so in tune with the ecology and the behavior of these animals because his motivations are different [than scientists'.] He does it because he loves the animals."
On this day, out in the marsh, Carroll doesn't find any of his beloved creatures. Still their presence is felt. Dressed in a green camouflage shirt, his thick silvery hair held back by a black headband, the top of Carroll's head looks like a shell.
``Someone wrote that I see the world through the turtle's eyes," he says. ``I guess I just see something that is beyond any human imagination.
``It's incredible what our science has told us and what insight our imagination has given us. But there's a lot more there. And that's what I see."

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/health_science/articles/2006/10/16/for_genius_grant_naturalist_turtles_are_a_lifetime_passion/?p1=MEWell_Pos3
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