{"id":4893,"date":"2001-04-08T20:38:32","date_gmt":"2001-04-09T01:38:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=4893"},"modified":"2010-03-03T20:51:18","modified_gmt":"2010-03-04T01:51:18","slug":"terrapins-face-winter%e2%80%99s-final-test-%e2%80%94-8-april-2001","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=4893","title":{"rendered":"Terrapins Face Winter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Final Test \u00e2\u20ac\u201d 8 April 2001"},"content":{"rendered":"

Full moon intensifies Wellfleet Bay\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s already dramatic tidal swings.\u00c2\u00a0 Highs rise to nearly plus 13 feet and lows plunge to almost minus 2 feet.\u00c2\u00a0 While flood tides threaten coastlines, lows place our sleeping terrapins at greater\u00c2\u00a0risk.\u00c2\u00a0 Vast expanses of tidal flats and marsh creeks, which are normally protected by bay water, are drained by these astronomical tides, exposing turtles who chose hibernacula a bit too close to the boundary.\u00c2\u00a0 While the numbers aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t great, we recently discovered a pattern of terrapins being dislodged during winter and early spring tidal extremes.\u00c2\u00a0 After being summarily unearthed from cozy slumber, these cold-stunned turtles are discovered \u00e2\u20ac\u201d if they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re lucky \u00e2\u20ac\u201d stumbling along the high tide line where they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been washed ashore.\u00c2\u00a0 Unless found, most will not survive\u00c2\u00a0prevailing air and water temperatures in February, March, and even April.\u00c2\u00a0 Today, in this so far bone-chilling springtime, we reached 39 degrees under cold rain and water temperatures over the tidal flats remained in the mid-40s.<\/p>\n

\"04-08-1<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0Low Tide Drained Loagy Bay off Lieutenant Island<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

As low tide approached this evening and Lieutenant Island\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s marsh drained dry, a resident braved the gloom and bitter weather to discover a cold-stunned terrapin in the high tide wrack.\u00c2\u00a0 A 1-year-old turtle hatched in the fall of 1999, this one proved a special find, indeed.\u00c2\u00a0 Like most researchers, we rarely see terrapins between the time they disappear into the nursery marsh immediately after hatching and when they pop up again as strapping 3- & 4-year-old juveniles.\u00c2\u00a0 The lost years between birth and then are mysteries.\u00c2\u00a0 So, we are doubly blessed by today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s discovery.<\/p>\n

\"04-08-2<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0One-Year-Old Diamondback Terrapin<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The turtle measured 4.5 centimeters carapace length (4.0 cm plastron) and weighed in at 16 grams.\u00c2\u00a0 The age was confirmed by a single growth line.\u00c2\u00a0 Assuming birth in fall 1999 and average hatchling statistics, this little critter looks like it gained a little more than 1.5 centimeters in length and double its 8 gram birth weight in its first season of activity (Year 2000).<\/p>\n

Since Flower, the free-loading hatchling box turtle, who moved into my garage in November, has the terrarium booked for the season, I set up a make-shift home for this new boarder.\u00c2\u00a0 It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s resting on moist beach sand with a small amount of marsh water at one end, which is heated by a lamp to gradually raise its body temperature.\u00c2\u00a0 When first examined, the eyes seemed closed and filmy, but they were still responsive to light.\u00c2\u00a0 I witnessed this same pattern in a 3-year-old juvenile (Vito), which was found cold-stunned in the same tidal condition in February 2000 and released last spring.\u00c2\u00a0 If the heat works its magic, I expect to see the eyes open in a day or two.<\/p>\n

\"04-08-3-4<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0One-Year-Old Terrapin with Loads of Scute Anomalies<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

This young terrapin sports an interesting and anomalous carapace pattern of 19, rather than 13, scutes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Full moon intensifies Wellfleet Bay\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s already dramatic tidal swings.\u00c2\u00a0 Highs rise to nearly plus 13 feet and lows plunge to almost minus 2 feet.\u00c2\u00a0 While flood tides threaten coastlines, lows place our sleeping terrapins at greater\u00c2\u00a0risk.\u00c2\u00a0 Vast expanses of tidal flats and marsh creeks, which are normally protected by bay water, are drained by these […]<\/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\/4893"}],"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=4893"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4893\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4902,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4893\/revisions\/4902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}