{"id":9148,"date":"2011-05-15T22:09:31","date_gmt":"2011-05-16T03:09:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=9148"},"modified":"2011-05-16T06:10:30","modified_gmt":"2011-05-16T11:10:30","slug":"the-legendary-terrapins-of-wellfleet-bay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=9148","title":{"rendered":"The Legendary Terrapins of Wellfleet Bay"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"86-front-16-may-09-480\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Female Terrapin #86 — Wellfleet’s Grande Dame<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Northern Diamondback Terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin terrapin<\/em>)\u00c2\u00a0research project in Wellfleet Bay has entered the 32nd year of\u00c2\u00a0this unique\u00c2\u00a0longitudinal study.\u00c2\u00a0 Since each captured specimen receives an individual identification number, we have been able to observe and document some of these turtles for more than three decades.\u00c2\u00a0 For instance, Terrapin #86\u00c2\u00a0is the official “Grande Dame of Wellfleet Bay” diamondback terrapins.\u00c2\u00a0 She was captured on the very first day of this research project on 20 June 1980.\u00c2\u00a0 Back then she was already an “ancient” female.\u00c2\u00a0 Yet, when she was recaptured and photographed above in May 2009,\u00c2\u00a0#86 was cavorting in Fresh Brook Run with a dashing 8-year-old male, prompting our headline story in Cape Cod Today to ask, “When is a turtle a cougar?<\/a>“\u00c2\u00a0 (Click on the title to read this informative and amusing story.)<\/p>\n

\"1900<\/a><\/p>\n

Female Diamondback Terrapin #1900<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Beyond the powerful scientific results that such a continuous\u00c2\u00a0long-term study of a protected species provides,\u00c2\u00a0Turtle Journal\u00c2\u00a0freely admits that we simply enjoy the stories that these terrapins tell as each capture in succession fills in details of their lives, of their histories and of their survival.\u00c2\u00a0 For instance, Terrapin #1900\u00c2\u00a0was captured by Sue Wieber\u00c2\u00a0Nourse on Friday.\u00c2\u00a0 Don Lewis had originally marked this\u00c2\u00a0mature\u00c2\u00a0female\u00c2\u00a0during a nesting run on Lieutenant Island in June 2003.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"1900<\/a><\/p>\n

Diamondback Terrapin #1900 with Scute Anomalies<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

As you can see from the photograph above, Terrapin #1900 is easily recognizable by the unique scute anomalies on her carapace.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Like the movie character in The Legend of 1900<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, our #1900 never seems to leave Lieutenant Island and its immediate vicinity.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 She\u00c2\u00a0comes ashore\u00c2\u00a0twice each year, in June and July, to lay nests on the south side of Lieutenant Island.\u00c2\u00a0 When she’s not on nesting runs, #1900 remains in the tidal flats south of Lieutenant Island for brumation, foraging and mating.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0She’s a\u00c2\u00a0captive of her local environment akin to her Legend of 1900<\/em><\/strong> analog.\u00c2\u00a0 As Wellfleet turtles go, Terrapin #1900 is the exception rather than\u00c2\u00a0the rule.\u00c2\u00a0 Detailed migration patterns revealed over 32 years of records demonstrate how diamondbacks crisscross Wellfleet Bay to exploit various aspects of this rich estuary system for foraging, mating, nesting and brumating.<\/p>\n

\"2874<\/a><\/p>\n

Female Diamondback Terrapin #2874<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Four other terrapins that Sue captured on the 13th revealed stories about where they’ve been and how they use the estuaries, the uplands, the tidal flats\u00c2\u00a0and the\u00c2\u00a0salt marshes\u00c2\u00a0of Wellfleet Bay in order to sustain\u00c2\u00a0the strongest\u00c2\u00a0population of this threatened species in Massachusetts.\u00c2\u00a0 As has been revealed often in the pages of Turtle Journal, these individual stories weave together an epic tale of how terrapins migrate throughout the bay’s estuaries\u00c2\u00a0to exploit the full\u00c2\u00a0bounty of this northernmost habitat in the world for diamondbacks.<\/p>\n

<\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n

Terrapin #1900 and Friends<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

After scientific processing and epic storytelling, these Wellfleet legends head\u00c2\u00a0 back into Fresh Brook Run led by #1900 for a little more springtime cavorting.\u00c2\u00a0 With any luck, we’ll see several of them again when nesting seasoon begins in four more weeks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Female Terrapin #86 — Wellfleet’s Grande Dame The Northern Diamondback Terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin terrapin)\u00c2\u00a0research project in Wellfleet Bay has entered the 32nd year of\u00c2\u00a0this unique\u00c2\u00a0longitudinal study.\u00c2\u00a0 Since each captured specimen receives an individual identification number, we have been able to observe and document some of these turtles for more than three decades.\u00c2\u00a0 For instance, Terrapin […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"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\/9148"}],"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=9148"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9176,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9148\/revisions\/9176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}