Posts Tagged ‘conservation’

Tiny Hatchling Beats Cold Front by a Nose

Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008

Three Gram Second-Chance Terrapin Hatchling

“There’s always one more.”  That’s the motto of the Paludal Posse, our terrapin research and conservation team on Outer Cape Cod.  There’s always one more nest to find, one more nest to hatch, one more turtle in the nest, one more hatchling to emerge, one more turtle to save.  In short, there’s always one more.  And so it was proven again this weekend as we prepared our last batch of terrapin hatchlings for release on Tuesday, a promised mild October day.

Terrapin Hatchling and Second-Chance Egg from Nest 996

Sue counted 20 second-chance hatchlings soaking in 70F water to prepare for their sprint to freedom.  Second-chance hatchlings?  What the heck are second-chance hatchlings?  As we harvest emerging nests that have mostly hatched and other nests that have been exposed by predators, we often find a couple of unhatched eggs left behind.  Most of these eggs are in good shape and need only a couple days more incubation.  A few, though, look pretty sad; dimpled, dented, dehydrated, discolored, and so on.  These eggs wouldn’t make it in the wild.  Still, we prefer to give every turtle egg a chance even if it has only a small probability of survival.  So, these long-shot eggs go into our mystical, magical second-chance bucket, filled wtih clean, moist natal sand and warmed first naturally in our sun room until early October and then under a heat lamp in our lab until successfully hatched or all hope is exhausted.  We always have Halloween hatchlings, usually have Thanksgiving babies and occasionally find a pair of cute dark eyes staring up at us on Christmas morning.  (ASIDE:  Can there be a more powerful holiday message?) 

So, as Sue collected the 20 lucky babies for their trip back into the wild, she scanned the second-chance bucket and yelled in exclamation, “We’ve got another one!”  To which I sagely replied, “Yep.  There’s always one more.”

Perfect October Day for Second-Chance Hatchling Release

We made it to Turtle Point on Lieutenant Island while the weather held; 63F, gentle breeze and warming sunshine.  But a careful look at the clouds streaming above reminded us that a storm front approached. 

2nd Chance Hatchling and 20 Siblings Released at Turtle Point

The sand at Turtle Point had baked through the morning and reflected warmth as we sat down to release our 21 charges.  Placing them in a single bunch near the wrack line on the downward sloping dune, we watched as they scattered in random directions and power bursts.  Soon they had all disappeared into the nursery surroundings, some into upland vegetation, others into downland wrack and Spartina salt marsh, and still others burrowed into the warm dune sand.

Last Sailboat Dances with Northeast Blow in Blackfish Creek

Within an hour the weather had closed in.  The cold front arrived with gusts whistling across the narrow Outer Cape peninsula from the North Atlantic.  Clouds massed and grayed; white caps appeared; and we were doused in cold droplets whether from rain or briny spray we couldn’t tell.

“There’s Always One More” Egg in Second-Chance Bucket

Back in our warm, comfortable lab office Tuesday evening we inventoried our terrapin assets.  Tanks empty and ready.  Second-chance bucket filled with potential.  And our hopes high for one more miracle.

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The New Naturalists: Next Generation of Herpetologists

Wednesday, September 24th, 2008

Young Herpetologist Meets Her First Terrapin Hatchling

The most sacred duty of any naturalist, especially one with thinning silver locks, involves sharing the experience of Nature and recruiting successors among the next generation to continue the critical mission of observation, documentation and conservation.  While my colleagues and I employ undergraduate and graduate interns each season to “learn the trade” of field science, our special joy comes from opportunites to engage with the youngest scientists, those for whom an adventure in the wild becomes a transformational experience that may change the course of their lives and the future of our world. 

Don Lewis and Young Herpetologists with Terrapin Hatchlings

Partnering with such exceptional conservation advocates as the Massachusetts Audubon Society, the National Marine Life Center, the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History, and Massachusetts Marine Educators (among too many others to mention in a short post), we have had the privilege to introduce children from nine months to nine decades to Nature through the unparalleled teaching model of turtles.  Seemingly helpless hatchlings melt the hardest hearts.  I’ve watched jaded curmudgeons with expressions so sour they could change sunshine into hail; I watched their eyes mist as they witnessed a tiny hatchling poke its head through its eggshell at the instant of birth.  For children who come to the field with fewer preconceptions of the natural world, these interactions are pure joy.

Discovering a Hatchling as It Emerges from the Egg

Because turtles, and especially hatchlings, appear so accessible to children, they create an immediate and tangible link with Nature.  In decades of wildlife research and education, we have never encountered a person WITHOUT a turtle story to tell.  Often an octogenarian will smile the smile of a todler as her eyes beam and she tells the tale of how her dad introduced her to a baby turtle he had found in the pond behind their home.

Baby Meets Baby

We can never forget the young girl who eagerly and tenderly held a four-year-old snapping turtle at the Earth Day celebration at Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary in 2003.  We wonder how she showed no fear of what this then timid turtle would become as it grew into a mighty and fearsome snapper.  She simply felt the joy of touching Nature in such a personal way.

Four-Year-Old Meets Four-Year-Old Snapping Turtle

During field season, we use every opportunity to involve children in our research, especially when releasing critters back into the wild.  On the beaches of the Outer Cape, the setting is perfect for youngsters to meet turtles in a completely natural venue and to learn about them in ways that books simply can never convey.

Turtles Create Transformational Moments

A message from today’s post?  Take every opportunity to introduce children to Nature and show them critters in their natural habitat.  The rewards of the moment will be enormous as you see pure, honest joy burst across their faces.  But this singular experience will pay dividends for a lifetime as memories form touchstones that will shape the course of their lives and the future of our world.  Bring your family into Nature and see what futures you, too, can create.

Hatchlings Released into Nursery Salt Marsh off Turtle Point

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Rescuing Live Hatchlings from Maggot Infested Nests

Wednesday, September 10th, 2008

No, it’s not a pretty thought.  It’s not a pretty sight and it’s certainly not a pleasant experience.  But it is the real world of terrapin conservation and so for the serious naturalist, it’s a necessary learning moment.  Be thankful that the pictures are two dimensional and that there is no smell-vision key on the video clip.

Research from September 2000 revealed for the first time that a significant percentage of diamondback terrapins nests in the Wellfleet Bay system were being destroyed  by fly maggots.  The infestation appears to begin at pipping when hatchlings poke openings in their eggshells allowing the odor of organic material to escape and to attract flies.  Since Outer Cape hatchlings remain in their shells and underground for several days after pipping, maggots have the opportunity to attack an extremely vulnerable prey as the maggots work their way through the cracked shell to devour the exposed hatchling.

Pipped and Vulnerable (Upside-Down) Terrapin Hatchling

In most cases, the maggots begin with the umbilicus and enter the main body of the living hatchling through the yolk sac, hollowing out the baby from within.  Thus, hatchlings and whole nests are destroyed by these insidious predators underground without ever being exposed for counting by researchers like nests preyed upon by more obvious predators.

Maggots Attacking Helpless Hatchling (Rescued)

Observations over the last nine seasons confirm the 2000 discovery and underscore the severe constraint this predation places on the number of live hatchlings that emerge on the Outer Cape each year.  This season (2008) alone has seen more than half of all nests in the critical habitat of Lieutenant Island infested with maggots.

Maggots Consume Hatchling Embryo

Thankfully, the aggressive conservation protocols developed after the 2000 discovery have rescued more and more hatchlings each year from this infestation.  By checking nests as they begin to pip and harvesting them at the first sign of maggots, our efforts have significantly increased the number of live hatchlings entering the system since the turn of the millennium.  Even after the infestation has begun, our actions can save most hatchlings from the most heavily infested nests.  We harvest the pipped eggs and remove all maggots before re-burying premature hatchlings in clean, moist soil to finalize the incubation process.  These efforts have rescued thousands of hatchlings that would never have seen the light of day.

Hatchlings Rescued from Maggot Infested Nest

This particular nest on Turtle Point gave away its location by a concavity on the surface.  As hatchlings pip and squirm around inside the egg chamber, sand gets displaced and this underground activity shows itself as ripples of the surface sand to the most seasoned turtle researcher.  We were able to rescue 10 baby hatchlings from the devouring horde of maggots in this nest, hand-picking tiny maggots from limb cavities and off yolk sacs, then bathing the hatchlings in clean, fresh water for rehydration before release.  So, a good day in the Land of Ooze where we saved an order of magnitude better than our goal of one turtle at a time.

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Neither Angst Nor Doubt

Sunday, August 31st, 2008

Tiny 1-inch, quarter ounce diamondback terrapin hatchlings emerge from the sands of the Outer Cape and scramble against seemingly insurmountable odds and a host of hungry, impatient predators to find cover in the surrounding marsh. Restrained by neither angst nor doubt, they exhibit the epitome of an indomitable spirit to achieve success in the face of impossible obstacles.

No Obstacle Stops Determined Terrapin Hatchlings

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