{"id":13049,"date":"2013-05-17T11:59:24","date_gmt":"2013-05-17T16:59:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=13049"},"modified":"2013-05-17T11:59:24","modified_gmt":"2013-05-17T16:59:24","slug":"fruits-of-diamondback-terrapin-conservation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=13049","title":{"rendered":"Fruits of Diamondback Terrapin Conservation"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Basking Diamondback Terrapins in Buzzards Bay Estuary<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

After ten years of intensive research and focused conservation efforts on the SouthCoast of Massachusetts, Turtle Journal savored the image above from Buzzards Bay’s Sippican Harbor.\u00c2\u00a0 In 2003, this population of terrapins teetered on the brink of extirpation.\u00c2\u00a0 Thursday afternoon’s display of basking and “dating” turtles sported more diamondback terrapins than we have ever recorded.\u00c2\u00a0 The rock shown above held five mature females and three mature males.\u00c2\u00a0 Surrounding rocks held more adults, as well as basking juveniles.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Sue Wieber Nourse Captures Basking Terrapin #329<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Sue Wieber Nourse spotted a mature female terrapin basking in the Spartina<\/em> grass at the water’s edge.\u00c2\u00a0 She swooped into the spot and hand-captured mature\u00c2\u00a0female #329, an important player in\u00c2\u00a0restoration of the Buzzards Bay terrapin population.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Female Diamondback Terrapin #329<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Terrapin #329 is a very large, mature female terrapin.\u00c2\u00a0 She tips the scales at 1.5 kilograms and her shell measures 8.5 inches long.\u00c2\u00a0 From a conservation perspective, these large, mature females are the most important factors in producing new recruits to the population.\u00c2\u00a0 They lay larger eggs that yield larger, more viable hatchlings; their natal nesting site has proven viable\u00c2\u00a0over the years.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Terrapin #329 Nesting at Tabor’s Schaefer\u00c2\u00a0Oceanology Lab<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Last July 2nd, Sue checked the Tenbrook Beach at Tabor Academy’s Schaefer Oceanology Lab where she previously served as director.\u00c2\u00a0 Under her leadership, this beach from 2003 through 2005 had yielded the first protected nests in Buzzards Bay as the\u00c2\u00a0beginning of the Turtle Journal conservation program.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

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Terrapin #329 Nesting at Schaefer Oceanology Lab, July 2012<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

On this July 2012 morning, Terrapin #329 was laying her second nest of the year, and Sue was able to harvest the 12 perfect eggs, protect them through incubation and return\u00c2\u00a012 perfect\u00c2\u00a0hatchlings safely to the\u00c2\u00a0abutting nursery salt marsh.\u00c2\u00a0 Such conservation efforts have proven a\u00c2\u00a0huge boost to the terrapin\u00c2\u00a0population in Buzzards Bay.\u00c2\u00a0 See Rare Turtle Nests at Schaefer Oceanology Lab<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Female Diamondback Terrapin #701<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

On Thursday we also recaptured mature female #701.\u00c2\u00a0 She is even larger than #329, registering 1.7 kilograms and 8.7 inches long.\u00c2\u00a0 We last saw this lady on 21 May 2010 in the Sippican Harbor mating aggregation.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Female Diamondback Terrapin #601<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

We first captured mature female #601 on that same day in May 2010, and we have seen her each year since in the Sippican Harbor mating aggregation.\u00c2\u00a0 On Thursday, this younger female weighed only 1.1 kilograms and measured just 7.4 inches long.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Female Diamondback Terrapin #253<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Turtle #253 is a large mature female who we have been tracking since June 2004.\u00c2\u00a0 She weighs 1.5 kilograms and her carapace measures 8.2 inches long.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Female Diamondback Terrapin #340<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

We encountered mature female Terrapin #340 again on Thursday.\u00c2\u00a0 Don Lewis netted her as she cavorted with male Terrapin #41 (see below).\u00c2\u00a0 You may recall Turtle #340 from last Thursday, May 10th, when Don discovered her pairing with male Terrapin #304.\u00c2\u00a0 Clearly, she is a popular lady in the Sippican mating aggregation.\u00c2\u00a0 (See Sippican Harbor Terrapins<\/a>.)<\/span><\/p>\n

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Female Diamondback Terrapin #41<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

We found two new terrapins on Thursday whom we had never observed previously.\u00c2\u00a0 Mature female Terrapin #41 beamed a broad smile during her first interaction with humans.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Male Diamondback Terrapin #40<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

On the other hand, bashful male Terrapin #40 hid inside his cowl to demonstrate his disdain for this first encounter with researchers.\u00c2\u00a0 He did, however, sport a dashing Buzzards Bay mustache to compensate for the lack of a smile.\u00c2\u00a0 Although sexually mature at five years old, Terrapin #40 weighed only 193 grams and measured just 4.3 inches long.\u00c2\u00a0 Fully mature males achieve only half the linear size and less than a quarter of the mass of mature terrapin females.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Basking Diamondback Terrapins in Buzzards Bay Estuary After ten years of intensive research and focused conservation efforts on the SouthCoast of Massachusetts, Turtle Journal savored the image above from Buzzards Bay’s Sippican Harbor.\u00c2\u00a0 In 2003, this population of terrapins teetered on the brink of extirpation.\u00c2\u00a0 Thursday afternoon’s display of basking and “dating” turtles sported more […]<\/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\/13049"}],"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=13049"}],"version-history":[{"count":37,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13049\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13111,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13049\/revisions\/13111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}