{"id":12299,"date":"2013-03-01T18:09:25","date_gmt":"2013-03-01T23:09:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=12299"},"modified":"2013-03-01T18:09:25","modified_gmt":"2013-03-01T23:09:25","slug":"turtle-journal-rescues-4-year-old-cold-stunned-terrapin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=12299","title":{"rendered":"Turtle Journal Rescues 4-Year-Old Cold-Stunned Terrapin"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Sue Wieber Nourse with Cold-Stunned Juvenile Terrapin<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

To celebrate the end of February, the cruelest month in the Great White North, the Turtle Journal team traveled to Outer Cape Cod on March 1st for a pre-season assessment\u00c2\u00a0of the long winter’s damage.\u00c2\u00a0 As we patrolled the shoreline of the Fox Island Wildlife Management Area (WMA) on Indian Neck in South Wellfleet, Sue Wieber Nourse\u00c2\u00a0rescued a cold-stunned juvenile terrapin in the wrack line.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0The turtle’s\u00c2\u00a0shell blended perfectly into the salt hay debris, demanding a sharp researcher’s eye to spot her.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Four-Year-Old, Cold-Stunned Diamondback Terrapin<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Clinging to life, this stolid four-year-old terrapin was cold to the touch.\u00c2\u00a0 Her eyes were closed and, while she was responsive,\u00c2\u00a0her limbs\u00c2\u00a0were clearly weakened.\u00c2\u00a0 She was unable to crawl, and she was dehydrated.\u00c2\u00a0 Likely unearthed from her marsh hibernaculum by winter winds and ice floes, she was exposed to the elements and would have succumbed, had not Sue discovered her tangled in the deserted wrack.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Rescued Four-Year-Old Cold-Stunned Diamondback Terrapin<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Back at Turtle Journal\u00c2\u00a0 headquarters, this young juvenile is soaking in lukewarm water and has begun to move her head about to examine her surroundings.\u00c2\u00a0 We will continue to warm her gradually until she regains health, and we will return her to the wild, once spring conditions permit.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Mature Female Diamondback Terrapin Carapace<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Across Blackfish Creek on Lieutenant Island, we patrolled shorelines that had sustained substantial damage in the last series of winter storms.\u00c2\u00a0 Much sand has been lost from north-facing Turtle Pass and the Hook, as well as Turtle Point on the south side\u00c2\u00a0of the island; all critical terrapin nesting sites.\u00c2\u00a0 As we walked the bearberry banks above Turtle Point, Don Lewis discovered the carapace of a large, mature female that had succumbed probably in the fall.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Mature Male Diamondback Terrapin Plastron<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

A few feet to the west, Don found the shell of a deceased mature male terrapin.\u00c2\u00a0 Both turtles had been marked by terrapin researchers in better times.\u00c2\u00a0 Reading these markings, however,\u00c2\u00a0will require sleuthing\u00c2\u00a0because of the poor condition of the\u00c2\u00a0shells. The Turtle Journal team will search its database and digital imagery records to determine their history.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sue Wieber Nourse with Cold-Stunned Juvenile Terrapin To celebrate the end of February, the cruelest month in the Great White North, the Turtle Journal team traveled to Outer Cape Cod on March 1st for a pre-season assessment\u00c2\u00a0of the long winter’s damage.\u00c2\u00a0 As we patrolled the shoreline of the Fox Island Wildlife Management Area (WMA) on […]<\/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\/12299"}],"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=12299"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12299\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12343,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12299\/revisions\/12343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}