{"id":12718,"date":"2013-04-24T20:40:40","date_gmt":"2013-04-25T01:40:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=12718"},"modified":"2013-04-24T20:40:40","modified_gmt":"2013-04-25T01:40:40","slug":"love-is-in-the-air-at-southcoast-bog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=12718","title":{"rendered":"Love Is in the Air at SouthCoast Bog"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Female Followed by\u00c2\u00a0Two Male Painteds in\u00c2\u00a0Courtship Dance<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The sun\u00c2\u00a0peekaboo’ed through the clouds late\u00c2\u00a0this morning, nudging the thermometer into comfortable 50s and low 60s.\u00c2\u00a0 The Turtle Journal team bounced across one-lane backroads to a long abandoned bog on the SouthCoast of Massachusetts to investigate goings-on.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Male Spotted Turtle #1001<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

We found one female (#53) and one male (#1001) basking\u00c2\u00a0on the surface of the shallow channels of the spotted turtle mating aggregation.\u00c2\u00a0 There was no ongoing mating activity among the spotted turtles, so we moved on.\u00c2\u00a0 Sue Wieber Nourse went to\u00c2\u00a0observe the painted turtle mating site and Don Lewis headed off to check the status of salamander and frog egg masses.\u00c2\u00a0 Being much swifter than us, Rufus did both by bounding back and forth between us.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Female Painted Turtle Followed by Two Males<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

At the main flooded bog channel, Sue was surprised to happen upon a hot romantic scene in progress.\u00c2\u00a0 Two male painted turtles were engaged in a courtship dance with a large beautful female.\u00c2\u00a0 The threesome were so ardently absorbed that they missed Sue’s approach.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

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

Rufus Examines Romantic Painted Turtles<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Sue scooped the trio into a net before they knew what was happening.\u00c2\u00a0 Rufus checked closely to ensure the turtles were fine and to find out what they were up to.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Beautiful Female Painted Turtle and Male Suitors<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The two male suitors are shallower (in girth) and considerably smaller than the gorgeous mature female whom Don knicknamed Helen in honor of Helen of Troy.\u00c2\u00a0 She might not launch a thousand ships, but she could certainly move\u00c2\u00a0these males to fervent action.<\/p>\n

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

Rufus Joins the Romantic Turtle Trio<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Apparently “feeling the love,” Rufus insisted on joining the threesome.\u00c2\u00a0 She lay down next to the turtles and gently rested her snout on Helen’s shell.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

\u00c2\u00a0Examining Romantic Painted Turtle Trio (Female Left)<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

We closely examined the specimens to document their health, as well as\u00c2\u00a0morphological differences between genders.\u00c2\u00a0 One can readily determine the larger girth of the female painted turtle … to accommodate egg production.\u00c2\u00a0 The males, as noted above,\u00c2\u00a0are smaller and shallower.\u00c2\u00a0 Also, the female tail is thinner and smaller than the much larger and thicker male tails.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Comparing Male and Female Painted Turtle Claws<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Beyond girth and tail, hints of gender can be derived from the length of claws (nails).\u00c2\u00a0 Male claws (nails) are significantly longer than those of females, as clearly illustrated in the photograph above.\u00c2\u00a0 The top turtle is the smaller male, the middle is the larger male, and the bottom is the female.<\/p>\n

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

\u00c2\u00a0Male Painted Turtle with Mauled Tail<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The smaller male turtle had a severely mauled tail end that occurred long enough ago for it to have completely healed.\u00c2\u00a0 Luckily for him, the shredded tail end stopped just below the anal opening, which in males is well beyond the protection of the carapace.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Rufus Bids the Romantic Trio Good-Bye<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

As we wrapped up processing and prepared to return the threesome back to their mating aggregation, Rufus insisted on sharing her love one\u00c2\u00a0last time.\u00c2\u00a0 Well, we suppose that’s simply what turtle dogs do.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Female Followed by\u00c2\u00a0Two Male Painteds in\u00c2\u00a0Courtship Dance The sun\u00c2\u00a0peekaboo’ed through the clouds late\u00c2\u00a0this morning, nudging the thermometer into comfortable 50s and low 60s.\u00c2\u00a0 The Turtle Journal team bounced across one-lane backroads to a long abandoned bog on the SouthCoast of Massachusetts to investigate goings-on. Male Spotted Turtle #1001 We found one female (#53) and one […]<\/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\/12718"}],"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=12718"}],"version-history":[{"count":36,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12774,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12718\/revisions\/12774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}