{"id":14361,"date":"2014-04-09T16:57:51","date_gmt":"2014-04-09T21:57:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=14361"},"modified":"2014-04-09T16:57:51","modified_gmt":"2014-04-09T21:57:51","slug":"spotted-turtle-mating-aggregation-near-southcoast-rookery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=14361","title":{"rendered":"Spotted Turtle Mating Aggregation Near SouthCoast Rookery"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/z-wash-st222-001-960.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-14368\" title=\"z wash st222 001 480\" src=\"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/z-wash-st222-001-480.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"488\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/z-wash-st222-001-480.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/z-wash-st222-001-480-295x300.jpg 295w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em><strong>Don Lewis Examines Male Spotted Turtle at SouthCoast Rookery<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Close by the SouthCoast rookery with its assortment of great blue heron and osprey treetop aeries, the Turtle Journal team monitors a spotted turtle mating aggregation that occupies a small portion of an NSTAR power-line right-of-way. \u00c2\u00a0Over the past couple of years NSTAR has brought in heavy machinery in, so far, failed attempts to fill in these wetlands and probable vernal pools. \u00c2\u00a0Last year the ground was torn up by tracked vehicles that gouged through the swampy terrain.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/z-spotted-turtle-222-profile-000-960.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-14366\" title=\"Sierra Exif JPEG\" src=\"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/z-spotted-turtle-222-profile-000-480.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"481\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/z-spotted-turtle-222-profile-000-480.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/z-spotted-turtle-222-profile-000-480-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/z-spotted-turtle-222-profile-000-480-300x300.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em><strong>Male Spotted Turtle #222 (Clemmys guttata)<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">On Monday, April 7th, the Turtle Journal team observed Spotted Turtle #222 basking in this mating aggregation. \u00c2\u00a0A mature male, #222 weighed 138 grams (4.9 ounces) and his shell measured 9.72 centimeters (3.8 inches). \u00c2\u00a0He is a recapture at this site from the time before NSTAR tried to fill in these wetlands. \u00c2\u00a0So, at least for the nonce, it appears that this mating aggregation continues despite human efforts to degrade the natural habitat.<\/p>\n<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Vive La Difference!<\/span><\/h1>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">(Telling He from She)<\/span><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/z-spotted-turtle-222-plastro-002-960.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-14364\" title=\"Sierra Exif JPEG\" src=\"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/z-spotted-turtle-222-plastro-002-480.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"555\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/z-spotted-turtle-222-plastro-002-480.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/z-spotted-turtle-222-plastro-002-480-259x300.jpg 259w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><strong>Male Spotted Turtle #222 Plastron (Bottom Shell)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/post-facebook-4yof-spotted-handful-9601.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-14362\" title=\"post facebook 4yof spotted handful 480\" src=\"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/post-facebook-4yof-spotted-handful-4801.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"666\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/post-facebook-4yof-spotted-handful-4801.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/post-facebook-4yof-spotted-handful-4801-216x300.jpg 216w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em><strong>Female Spotted Turtle #105 Plastron (Bottom Shell)<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Telling the difference between males and females proves an extremely useful research skill. \u00c2\u00a0Spotted turtles exhibit gender dichromatism. \u00c2\u00a0Females, such as #105 immediately above, have brightly colored chins; males, like #222, have drably colored chins. \u00c2\u00a0Females have thin, dainty tails and males have thick, showy tails. \u00c2\u00a0Females also have flat, washboard abs, and males have an indentation in their abdominal plastron (bottom shell) scutes. \u00c2\u00a0Although some might suggest that the following distinction is subjective, females are exquisitely beautiful and males are merely strikingly handsome. \u00c2\u00a0Now you, too, can celebrate &#8220;la difference.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Don Lewis Examines Male Spotted Turtle at SouthCoast Rookery Close by the SouthCoast rookery with its assortment of great blue heron and osprey treetop aeries, the Turtle Journal team monitors a spotted turtle mating aggregation that occupies a small portion of an NSTAR power-line right-of-way. \u00c2\u00a0Over the past couple of years NSTAR has brought in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[402,23],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14361"}],"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=14361"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14361\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14397,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14361\/revisions\/14397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}