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06-07-2010, 03:19 PM
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Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Teulon
Posts: 2,516
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Painted turtles
It is the time of the year when turtles come out of the water to lay their eggs. They often cross roads where they are often hit by cars. I went to the Whiteshell last night and helped over 10 turtles cross the road. Another man was doing the same thing I was doing, it was nice to see.
Unfortunately I did see one get hit. It didn't take too long for her to die fortunatley. This female didn't even get the chance to lay her eggs. Female turtles don't reach sexual maturity till atleast 15 years so as you can imagine losing one female hurts the local area. It's even more sad to know humans caused this.
Sadly I went about half a kilometer down the road where I saw a family of foxes. I thought they were eating a kill off the road but one of the kits had actually just been hit and was barley alive. I really hope that it was just a coincidence and that someone wasn't hitting these animals on purpose.
Considering it is a Provincial Park it would be nice to see some wildlife signs to warn people. With all the hills in the park you never know what you might see on the otherside. The roads are narrow with not much swerving room. People should be driving much slower. The park should be for conservation yet it is probably doing more harm then good.
In Ontario and some states they have turtle crossing signs up in their wetlands and they have been said to be working well (except for people stealing the signs). I think the MHS should talk to Manitoba Conservation about this and see if we can get something done. I'm going to send a few emails and I'd be happy to donate for some signs.
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06-07-2010, 04:25 PM
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BOD
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Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 2,251
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Nice pics Kevin - good to know there are people out there to help these little guys cross safely. Too bad about the DOR - even more so if you saw it happen  poor little feller
I was thinking that the pic above the DOR looked like he had a chunk taken out of the rear end of his carapace, but at least he's alive and looks like he's in good health...
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06-07-2010, 04:32 PM
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Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Teulon
Posts: 2,516
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I'm pretty sure that one was hit a few years ago. You could see where the shell was uneven and looked like her back/left shell had been cracked by a car. Healed up pretty nice though.
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06-07-2010, 05:28 PM
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Moderator
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Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Garden City
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Nice pictures Kevin. I can't wait to get out and do some herping. I don't think I'll have any time this summer.
__________________
Rich
War doesn't determine who's right. War determines who's left.
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06-07-2010, 06:03 PM
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Join Date: May 2009
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The one that was hit I would have brought it home and took the eggs out and hatched them.
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06-07-2010, 07:27 PM
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Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Teulon
Posts: 2,516
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by reptilerob
The one that was hit I would have brought it home and took the eggs out and hatched them.
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1.) It is illegal
2.) I had no clue if the eggs were even ready to be laid.
3.) I have no time for turtle eggs and am not going to leave them here to burden my family with 20 illegal turtles.
4.) Painted turtles overwinter in their nest sites so they couldn't be released till the spring.
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06-07-2010, 08:20 PM
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Join Date: May 2009
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Wow not here. You can hatch them but must release them once hatched.
But number " 4 " I have never seen that before in my study. Do you have some research on this?
Last edited by reptilerob : 06-07-2010 at 08:35 PM.
Reason: adding more
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06-07-2010, 10:04 PM
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BOD
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Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 2,251
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Quote:
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Reproduction: female digs a shallow (often less than 12cm [5"] deep) nest from late May to early July in sandy or loose soil; 5-20 eggs are laid; female may lay a second clutch; young turtles hatch and may emerge in fall but usually overwinter in the nest and emerge the next spring;.....
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(above book excerpt) Reptiles and Amphibians of Canada, Fisher, Joynt and Brooks, 2007. Lone Pine Publishing, Edmonton.
Quote:
Abstract
Although many species of freshwater turtles emigrate to water soon after hatching, the offspring of some species overwinter on land and move to aquatic habitats in the following spring. Timing of emigration can affect the hatchlings' fitness, but the factors underlying phenology of nest emergence are incompletely understood. We tested the supposition that cold stress imposed during hibernation can influence the timing of nest emergence in three species of turtles in the central USA. In each year of the 6-year study, Chrysemys picta emerged in late March and early April and, on average, these hatchlings left their nests 2 weeks earlier than those of Graptemys geographica and 4 weeks earlier than those of Trachemys scripta. Emergence of conspecific hatchlings from different nests usually occurred over 3-7 weeks, but in some years lasted several additional weeks. Relatively few nests had siblings that emerged on the same day (i.e., synchronously); complete emergence of the typical sibling group required 1 to 2 weeks. In winter, subzero cold occurred with regularity in the nests of all species, though C. picta experienced the lowest temperatures owing to their shallower nests. However, for no species did emergence date or length of the emergence period correlate with winter minimum temperature and, at the level of the individual nest, neither did emergence synchrony or duration. Despite encountering lower temperatures, hatchlings of C. picta emigrated from their nests before those of sympatric species, suggesting that the fitness benefits of early emergence may lead to the improvement of cold-hardiness adaptations in northern populations of turtles. © 2010 Springer-Verlag.
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(above article) Baker P.J., Iverson J.B., Lee Jr., R.E., Costanzo, J.P. "Winter severity and phenology of spring emergence from the nest in freshwater turtles". Naturwissenschaften
2010, Pages 1-9. Article in Press.
Also of possible interest:
Quote:
Abstract
Although many studies of ectothermic vertebrates have documented compensatory changes in cold hardiness associated with changes of season, much less attention has been paid to adjustment of physiological functions and survival limits following more acute exposure to cold. We investigated the ability of hatchling painted turtles (Chrysemys picta) to increase cold hardiness in response to brief exposure to a subzero temperature. Winter-acclimated turtles were "cold conditioned" by chilling them in the supercooled (unfrozen) state to -7°C over a few days before returning them to 4°C. These turtles fared no better than control animals in resisting freezing when cooled in the presence or absence of ice and exogenous ice nuclei. Survival following tests of freeze tolerance (freezing for about 70 h; minimum body temperature, -3.75°C) was nominally higher in cold-conditioned turtles than in controls (36% vs. 13%, respectively), although the difference was not statistically significant. Of the survivors, cold-conditioned turtles apparently recovered sooner. Turtles subjected to cold shock (supercooling to -13°C for 24 h, followed by rewarming to 0°C) were strongly affected by cold conditioning: all controls died, but 50% of cold-conditioned turtles survived. We investigated potential mechanisms underlying the response to cold conditioning by measuring changes in levels of putative cryoprotectants. Plasma levels of glucose and lactate, but not urea, were higher in cold-conditioned turtles than in controls, although the combined increase in these solutes was only 23 mmol L-1. Cold conditioning attenuated cold-shock injury to brain cells, as assessed using a vital-dye assay, suggesting a link between protection of the nervous system and cold hardiness at the organismal level.
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(above article) Muir, T.J., Costanzo, J.P., Lee R.E. "Brief chilling to subzero temperature increases cold hardiness in the hatchling painted turtle (Chrysemys picta)". Physiological and Biochemical Zoology
Volume 83, Issue 1, January 2010, Pages 174-181.
(not a very extensive reference list - feel free to look up other articles too!)
So it seems that not all painted turtles overwinter in their nesting sites, but the majority of them do, and it may be imperative for survival of future winters (see Muir et al above). The "cryoprotectants" talked about in the article (glucose and urea) were also mentioned in my article about freeze-tolerant frogs!
Rob
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06-08-2010, 08:07 AM
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Oh ok ONLY in the 2nd clutch (of mostly slugs) or if laid late in the year (end of summer) But they have not hatched at this time. In that part most if they hatch and stay underground they don't make it sometime. But there need more study on this In CANADA.
I was thinking when he said that if they were laid now, hatch and stay there over the summer and come up in spring(that is way to long). Because I am watching then nest right now.
In that there need to be more study. Because if they are going to nest now they would hatch in about 45 to 75 days. In which that would give them along time to eat and built up a fat storage for winter.
Last edited by reptilerob : 06-08-2010 at 08:09 AM.
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06-09-2010, 11:08 PM
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Join Date: Mar 2009
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My wife noticed one crossing St. Anne's road on Monday. By time she turned the car around to move it off the road it had also been hit. To bad, she said it was like he was going shopping at Extra foods.
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