{"id":9607,"date":"2011-09-05T21:41:36","date_gmt":"2011-09-06T02:41:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=9607"},"modified":"2011-09-05T21:42:43","modified_gmt":"2011-09-06T02:42:43","slug":"southcoast-terrapins-emerge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=9607","title":{"rendered":"SouthCoast Terrapins Emerge"},"content":{"rendered":"

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First SouthCoast Terrapin Hatchling 2011<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Labor Day Weekend\u00c2\u00a0brought\u00c2\u00a0our first diamondback terrapin hatchlings\u00c2\u00a0of 2011\u00c2\u00a0to the SouthCoast of Massachusetts.\u00c2\u00a0 These precious babies were saved from the threat of Hurricane Irene last weekend.\u00c2\u00a0 Irene punished the SouthCoast of Massachusetts, and especially Buzzards Bay, with a\u00c2\u00a0flooding storm surge synchronized with astronomically high tides at new moon phase.\u00c2\u00a0 Nesting sites all along Buzzards Bay became inundated by\u00c2\u00a0hurricane surge\u00c2\u00a0and were raked by pounding surf.\u00c2\u00a0 The Turtle Journal team and volunteers had rescued vulnerable SouthCoast nests just before Hurricane Irene’s arrival, and these nests began hatching during the holiday weekend.<\/p>\n

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SouthCoast Hatchlings Begin to Emerge<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In Marion, the Aucoot Cove barrier beach\u00c2\u00a0supports the densest concentration of terrapin nests.\u00c2\u00a0 With its southerly exposure, Aucoot Cove was ground zero for Hurricane Irene’s surge, which\u00c2\u00a0tore across its narrow width.\u00c2\u00a0 Fortunately, all known nests from this area had been relocated before the storm.\u00c2\u00a0 And on Sunday, three\u00c2\u00a0terrapin babies,\u00c2\u00a0which had “pipped” open their eggshells, scrambled to freedom when\u00c2\u00a0one of these rescued\u00c2\u00a0nests was exposed to sunlight.\u00c2\u00a0 These\u00c2\u00a0hatchlings had been deposited by their mother in\u00c2\u00a0their Aucoot Cove nest on June 11th and had been incubating for nearly three months before their emergence.<\/p>\n

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Three SouthCoast Terrapin Hatchlings Emerge<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Although only an inch long and weighing about a quarter ounce, hatchlings are completely independent from the moment they break loose from their eggshells and scramble to freedom.\u00c2\u00a0 These babies will be returned to their natal nest location on Aucoot Cove for release into the wild.<\/p>\n

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Jackie Fougere with First Hatchling from Silvershell Beach<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Earlier in the weekend\u00c2\u00a0Jackie Fougere\u00c2\u00a0discovered a tiny diamondback terrapin hatchling that had crawled onto her towel at Silvershell Beach in Marion.\u00c2\u00a0 This baby represents the first terrapin hatchling we have documented at Silvershell Beach.\u00c2\u00a0 It may have emerged from an elusive nest dug by its mother on this busy summer beach, or this hatchling may have been bounced around Sippican Harbor by Hurricane Irene’s turbulence.\u00c2\u00a0 When discovered, the hatchling had already discarded its egg tooth; so, it was probably more than a week from emergence.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

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SouthCoast Terrapin Hatchling Up Close and Personal<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

This rescued hatchling\u00c2\u00a0was a bit dehydrated and required rehydration before release.\u00c2\u00a0 Yet, after soaking in fresh water for a day, this baby had regained full vitality and was ready to fend for itself in the wild.\u00c2\u00a0 An event like Hurricane Irene, timed to arrive at a highly vulnerable point in the terrapin nesting cycle, could nearly wipe out a year’s crop of hatchlings.\u00c2\u00a0 With a local population already on the brink of extirpation, the loss of an entire annual cohort might prove catastrophic.\u00c2\u00a0 Yet, thanks to an aggressive conservation effort on the SouthCoast of Massachusetts, hundreds of hatchlings were saved to assume their role in reconstituting this threatened population.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First SouthCoast Terrapin Hatchling 2011 Labor Day Weekend\u00c2\u00a0brought\u00c2\u00a0our first diamondback terrapin hatchlings\u00c2\u00a0of 2011\u00c2\u00a0to the SouthCoast of Massachusetts.\u00c2\u00a0 These precious babies were saved from the threat of Hurricane Irene last weekend.\u00c2\u00a0 Irene punished the SouthCoast of Massachusetts, and especially Buzzards Bay, with a\u00c2\u00a0flooding storm surge synchronized with astronomically high tides at new moon phase.\u00c2\u00a0 Nesting sites […]<\/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\/9607"}],"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=9607"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9633,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9607\/revisions\/9633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}