{"id":2879,"date":"2009-07-07T20:28:41","date_gmt":"2009-07-08T01:28:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=2879"},"modified":"2010-01-16T12:03:28","modified_gmt":"2010-01-16T17:03:28","slug":"young-female-terrapin-nests-for-the-first-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=2879","title":{"rendered":"Young Female Terrapin Nests for the First Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"nest-132-terp-9754-10-eggs-001-840\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Ten Perfect Diamondback Terrapin Eggs<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

While responding to the\u00c2\u00a0deadly\u00c2\u00a0incident on Lieutenant Island on July 3rd (see Two Tragic Turtle Accidents on Lieutenant Island<\/a>), the Turtle Journal team rescued a very young female terrapin on her very first nesting run.\u00c2\u00a0 She crossed the road at nearly the same spot as the two mature turtles that were run over a few minutes earlier.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"9754-front-first-time-nester-8401\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Young Female Terrapin #9754<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Female terrapins on the Outer Cape reach nesting maturity around 8 or 9 years old when they reach a mass of 625 to 650 grams.\u00c2\u00a0 Captured for the first time, Terrapin #9754 measured 15.45 cm straight-line carapace length and 14.2 cm plastron length.\u00c2\u00a0 She weighed 651 grams.\u00c2\u00a0 Based on our 30 year longitudinal study of terrapins on Outer Cape Cod, we know this sized\u00c2\u00a0turtle would be nesting for the first time.<\/p>\n

\"high-dune-turtle-point-001-840\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Turtle Point with Five Terrapins and Two Nests<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

She was removed from busy holiday roads of west Lieutenant Island along with four other more mature female terrapins, all of which were moved to isolated Turtle Point for a better chance to nest safely.\u00c2\u00a0 While the other four scooted into the marsh for safety and upland areas in search of an appropriate nesting spot, Terrapin 9754 immediately began to dig a nest directly in front of us.\u00c2\u00a0 She thrust her nose into the sand, tossed some dirt over her shell with her front limbs, then moved her rear legs into the shallow pit to begin digging her nest in earnest.<\/p>\n

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Click here to view video in high quality<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Young Female Terrapin Digs and Covers Her First Nest<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

We were able to document the entire nesting process and found very interesting how much of this process is driven by instinct rather than behavior learned over time through practice.\u00c2\u00a0 She dug her nest,\u00c2\u00a0deposited her eggs and danced the final camouflage steps to cover and disguise the nest location.<\/p>\n

\"nest-132-terp-9754-10-eggs-002-840\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Ten Eggs Weighed 56 Grams Total<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Terrapin 9754 dropped from 651 grams to 591 grams after nesting.\u00c2\u00a0 To complete the scientific package, we harvested the eggs which measured about 3.1 cm long and weighed about 5.6 grams each for a total of 56 grams for all ten eggs.\u00c2\u00a0 The eggs were returned to the nest and covered with a predator excluder to protect them while they incubate in the warm Turtle Point sand.\u00c2\u00a0 The Turtle Journal team will be watching Nest #132 very carefully around Labor Day Weekend to get a peek at her first live hatchlings.\u00c2\u00a0 Stay tuned to Turtle Journal (www.turtlejournal.com<\/a>) for the rest of the story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ten Perfect Diamondback Terrapin Eggs While responding to the\u00c2\u00a0deadly\u00c2\u00a0incident on Lieutenant Island on July 3rd (see Two Tragic Turtle Accidents on Lieutenant Island), the Turtle Journal team rescued a very young female terrapin on her very first nesting run.\u00c2\u00a0 She crossed the road at nearly the same spot as the two mature turtles that were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","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\/2879"}],"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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2879"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2879\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2900,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2879\/revisions\/2900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}