By Sara Marschhauser Steffen | Conservation Coordinator
Right on schedule, our turtles started hibernating mid-November!
As mentioned in the last update, “BIL” lost his transmitter and we were looking for a replacement. Shortly after we found a transmitter and no turtle, our fall conservation intern, Taylor, found a new turtle! She dubbed him "OPV". He is in a completely different area of the park that has not been explored by a transmitter turtle. See the map for his location. We hope he gives us some interesting data!
Over the summer many of our turtles had traveled longer distances than in previous years. By the end of September they had moved back to their typical home range locations. However, one turtle, "ALM", continues to be an anomaly. Since September, she moved completely outside of her home range, and also outside of the park. If you look at the map, "ALM" is now located on the other side of a neighborhood that is adjacent to the park. She is a very busy female. There are quite a few reasons she may have moved locations: low food supply, fewer males to mate with, fewer hibernation sites, or younger and fitter turtles in the area pushing her out. What other reasons do you think she would have to move over 600 meters away? We’ll see what she does after she wakes up from hibernation in the spring. If she stays on the other side of the neighborhood, perhaps we’ll find more suitable habitat and even more turtles in an unexplored area!
Two of our turtles, "ABP" and "AOW", hibernated very close to each other. This has not been documented before with our other transmitter turtles. These two turtles were actually very close to each other all summer, and were caught mating once during tracking. Turtles (or reptiles in general) are not considered monogamous animals. They will mate with as many other turtles as possible in hopes of procreating and passing on their genes. We’ll see if "ABP" and "AOW" stick near each other in 2015, and if they mate again!
We appreciate all the support our Box Turtle project has received. Without this crucial research we cannot protect box turtles in North Carolina (or other areas) in the future.
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