{"id":11463,"date":"2012-07-09T08:11:33","date_gmt":"2012-07-09T13:11:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=11463"},"modified":"2012-07-09T08:11:33","modified_gmt":"2012-07-09T13:11:33","slug":"rescued-terrapin-thrives-in-new-habitat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=11463","title":{"rendered":"Rescued Terrapin Thrives in New Habitat"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Bumpy” Stretch Behind Her<\/span><\/h2>\n

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“Bumpy” — Rescued Terrapin #325<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Turtle Journal, our friends, our colleagues and you\u00c2\u00a0have been privileged to rescue thousands of turtles through the years in our shared\u00c2\u00a0mission to save the world one turtle at a time.\u00c2\u00a0 We give these troubled\u00c2\u00a0critters a nudge towards survival, we hope for the best, and we never see\u00c2\u00a0them again.\u00c2\u00a0 On special occasions, and\u00c2\u00a0particularly within\u00c2\u00a0our three decade long longitudinal study of terrapins, we\u00c2\u00a0get the chance to see the rescued\u00c2\u00a0specimen again, but usually long afterwards.\u00c2\u00a0 Today, though, we saw a terrapin that was rescued and released into the wild only three weeks ago; and she told us … with her data, of course … how well she has adjusted to her new life.<\/p>\n

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Mass Audubon Allen’s Pond Staff with “Bumpy”<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Someone had dumped female terrapin #325 (Bumpy)\u00c2\u00a0in a fresh water pond\u00c2\u00a0at Buttonwood Park in New Bedford.\u00c2\u00a0 Where that someone had found her originally is unknown.\u00c2\u00a0 From her skin markings, she\u00c2\u00a0appears to be a Buzzards Bay terrapin.\u00c2\u00a0 But whether she had been scooped from an estuary or a beach in Westport or Dartmouth or Fairhaven or Mattapoisett or Marion or Wareham or elsewhere, we shall\u00c2\u00a0never know.\u00c2\u00a0 What we do know is that staff from Mass Audubon’s Allens Pond Wildlife Sanctuary<\/a> spotted her at the New Bedford pond on June 14th, realized she did not belong and called Turtle Journal for identification of her species and a course of action to rescue her.<\/p>\n

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Terrapin Infested with Fresh Water Leeches<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The first thing we did was to remove two large fresh water leeches that had embedded themselves into her right forelimb.<\/p>\n

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Terrapin #325 with Bumps and Distortions (Rear View)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Yes, Terrapin #325 has earned her nickname “Bumpy.”\u00c2\u00a0 She has large and asymmetrical bumps along her vertebrals.\u00c2\u00a0 She also has nine rather than the normal five vertebral scutes.\u00c2\u00a0 Clearly, this turtle has multiple stories to tell, some about her life history and\u00c2\u00a0others about her\u00c2\u00a0genetics.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Terrapin #325 with Bumps and Distortions (Front View)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Yet, with leeches removed and given a few days to\u00c2\u00a0cleanse algae and slime she had accumulated\u00c2\u00a0in the fresh water, Terrapin #325 was ready to return to the wild; to real diamondback terrapin habitat, that is.\u00c2\u00a0 Although we had no way to ascertain her\u00c2\u00a0home estuary,\u00c2\u00a0our research tells us that\u00c2\u00a0some Buzzards Bay terrapins\u00c2\u00a0swim extensively from estuary to estuary within the bay.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 So, the most important factor for us was to find a safe and convenient, terrapin-friendly estuary from whence Bumpy could make her own life choices.<\/p>\n

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Bumpy (Terrapin #325) Released in Protected Cove<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

We released Terrapin #325 on June 17th.\u00c2\u00a0 For her return to nature, we chose a protected, terrapin rich cove mid-way through Buzzards Bay. From there,\u00c2\u00a0she\u00c2\u00a0could easily chart her own course for the future.\u00c2\u00a0 Little did we realize that we would encounter her again so soon\u00c2\u00a0 … just three weeks later.\u00c2\u00a0 And little did we appreciate how quickly she would re-adapt to her natural habitat.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Rescued Terrapin #325 Thriving in New Habitat<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Sunday\u00c2\u00a0morning Turtle Journal received a call from Ed and Lisa at a terrapin nesting beach in the next estuary to the cove where Bumpy had been released.\u00c2\u00a0 They had spotted a turtle and held it for us.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure enough, it was Terrapin #325.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Bumpy either swam a mile around the point or crawled a quarter mile across the peninsula to reach this nesting site.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

Her numbers tell the story.\u00c2\u00a0 In a mere three weeks, Bumpy had grown 0.1 centimeter; she had gained 50 grams (nearly 5% of her body mass).\u00c2\u00a0 And now she was quite pregnant, heavy with eggs and looking for a viable spot to deposit them.\u00c2\u00a0 Not too shabby for three weeks of freedom!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Bumpy” Stretch Behind Her “Bumpy” — Rescued Terrapin #325 Turtle Journal, our friends, our colleagues and you\u00c2\u00a0have been privileged to rescue thousands of turtles through the years in our shared\u00c2\u00a0mission to save the world one turtle at a time.\u00c2\u00a0 We give these troubled\u00c2\u00a0critters a nudge towards survival, we hope for the best, and we never […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11463"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11463"}],"version-history":[{"count":57,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11463\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11533,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11463\/revisions\/11533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}