Why Did the Turtle Cross the Road?

So, why did the turtle cross the road? To get to the Shell Station, of course!

O.k., really…what makes a turtle, or any other critter for that matter, attempt such a feat as crossing a busy local road or even a 6 lane interstate highway? Regardless of what we may think it is not because the animal kingdom is secretly conspiring to inconvenience the human race.  In the case of the turtle it has had over 230 million years to hone its survival instinct which can best be described as conditioning for preservation of the species. Through adaptive evolution the female turtle has been programmed to leave the watery environment where she spends most of her life and seek out the best upland areas with sandy or gravelly soil  (including my butterfly garden and various locations within my back yard) where she is most likely to successfully produce the next generation of turtles.

This painted turtle ((Chrysemys picta) visited my yard today to dig her nest and lay her eggs

This is problematic for all turtles when their nesting habitats, which typically consist of open, sandy, well-drained upland, are bisected from their watery environs (which, again, varies from species to species) by a road or other manmade impediment. A related phenomenon which causes mortality occurs where causeway construction, or road maintenance, has created sandy open areas suitable for nesting habitat immediately adjacent to the road shoulder or in the case of J.F.K Airport in between runways. In this instance, turtles are often killed after incidentally ending up on the road surface while scouting for a preferable nest site. In the summer of 2011  runway 4L was closed due the spawning migration of the diamondback terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin).

Eastern box turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina) crossing a road.

Journalist Natalie Angier in a 2006 NYT science article states that in man-kind “this Mesozoic era creature may have at last met it’s mortician.” Most experts agree the cause of world-wide declines in turtle populations includes habitat loss, either by outright conversion or indirect fragmentation (can’t get there from here) and a high rate of decline from road mortality and harvest for importation to the Far East as a gourmet delicacy and for traditional medicinal purposes. Basically the slow and steady reproductive pace of turtles, some which may not be physically capable of producing offspring for 40 or 50 years, just cannot keep up with the high rate of adult mortality.

Research indicates that unlike all other animals studied, the organs of turtles do not age or become less efficient over time. Even after a century and a half the vital organs are indistinguishable from that of a juvenile. Researchers have even gone so far as to say that a turtle may live indefinitely (if not lost to disease or trauma). How ironic it would be if humankind, having spent its entire existence on earth seeking immortality, were to destroy the one thing it has always sought due to a selfish lack of consideration for another living organism?

Eastern snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina). Photograph by Paul Sattler

So PLEASE watch out for mother turtles crossing the road as they are now seeking out higher ground to lay their eggs. Please avoid hitting them and if possible, help the turtle cross the road. BUT REMEMBER to always move the turtles in the direction that they were originally heading. If they are moved back to the side from which they were crossing they will just try to cross the road again.

Also, once the eggs hatch in the late-summer to early fall, be on the look out for baby turtles crossing the road to go back to the wetlands and ponds.

Juvenile Painted turtle found on April 14, 2012 desiccating on a roadway in Chelmsford MA

Following 30 minutes of rest in a shallow bucket of water the little turtle was ready for its trip to the nearby pond

One hotspot in Chelmsford to be aware of is the crossing at Smith Street right before the Steadman Street intersection. Unfortunately the Turtle Crossing signs that the Chelmsford Conservation Commission had placed here didn’t make it through their first summer thanks to vandals.

Vandals removed the Turtle Crossing sign off of Smith Street in Chelmsford MA last summer.

So remember,”and the turtles of course…all the turtles are free, As turtles and maybe all creatures should be.  Dr Seuss from Yurtle the Turtle.

My Unusually-Colored Summer Garden Guest

What the... An orange spring peeper?

As most gardeners do, I find it a spiritual experience to play amongst my garden beds and flowers. Imagine my surprise the other day when I saw what appeared to be an orange poison dart frog in my butterfly garden. Come again? Okay, not really a tropical rainforest tree frog, but the resemblance was a bit striking, right down to its little sticky toe pads. With an email to a few herpetologist friends I was able to confirm that what I had was indeed an orange spring peeper. The coloration is a bit unusual, but apparently not unheard of. It seems that the peeper has a chameleon-like ability similar to that of the grey tree frog that does allow it to darken or lighten, depending on its mood or its surroundings. Orange varieties do seem to be more common further south (VA and NC).

The Northern Spring Peeper (Pseudacris crucifer) is a small chorus frog found throughout the eastern USA and Canada. The peepers that we usually find here in Chelmsford MA  are often some shade of tan/brown or grey in color, sometimes with a dark cross on their back (from which the latin name “crucifer” is obtained).  They are usually very small, between 1″ or 1.5″ and compare in size from a nickel to slightly larger than a quarter (females are usually the larger of the two).

Northern Spring Peeper USGS Photo by Brad Glorioso

When I have a severe case of the winter blues and the first crocuses are just beginning to break ground, it is this critter that I truly yearn to hear. On the first warm rainy evening (if you can in your right mind call mid-40 F warm) as the last remnant of snow and ice is disappearing from the wetland edge, the male peepers come a-calling. I can usually be found up to my knees in cold (VERY cold – brrrrr)  water, head lamp on and camera in tow. As they are nocturnal and of minute size they are more often heard than seen. See and hear a video of a Calling Peeper by J. LeClere at HerpNet.net

Some interesting peeper factoids:

• Only the male of the species calls and it does so by pushing air out of and drawing it back into a sac on its throat.
• Spring Peepers produce glucose (sugar) in their liver that functions as an anti-freeze to keep their key organs from freezing.
• Other body parts, such as their appendages, may form ice crystals and freeze and they will while away the winter in this partly frozen state under soil, leaves or logs.
• They spend the majority of their time on land as carnivorous insect eaters, but do require water (normally shallow wetlands or ephemeral pools) to reproduce.

Unfortunately, most amphibians including frogs are experiencing catastrophic declines world-wide that have biologists significantly concerned. The reasons are not fully understood but major contributors are believed to include disease; habitat destruction, modification or fragmentation; pollution; pesticide use; introduced predators; and climate change. This should be a concern to us all as amphibians are very directly sensitive to external environmental parameters and often considered indicator species (“the canary in the coal mine” so to speak) that directly reflect the quality of our overall environment. Maybe this will be a subject of a future blog…

For more information on these wonderful critters visit these links:

Vernal Pool Association

Rhode Island Vernal Pools

MA DF&W Natural Heritage

UMASS Amherst Natural Resources