Why Wood Turtles Need Clean Water
Splitting their time almost equally between land and water, Wood Turtles are unique compared to other North American turtle species, most of which are either chiefly aquatic or fully terrestrial. Aquatic species such, as Painted Turtles, rarely leave water except to bask and nest, and terrestrial species, including tortoises and Box Turtles, scarcely venture into […]
On the Personality of “Bruce” the Wood Turtle
When monitoring populations of turtles, it is common for researchers to use microchips, shell notches, or reference photos to assign unique IDs to individuals. However, if you ask those researchers to tell you about some of their favorite turtles from over the years, they are unlikely to list them by ID number, but rather by […]
Out of Sight: Why Most People Never See a Wood Turtle
With a distinct black head, vibrant orange legs, and a shell that is often patterned with brilliant yellow spots and striations, you might think a Wood Turtle would be easy to spot. Specializing in river valley habitats, Wood Turtles are quite rare across much of their range, but even in the few remaining places where […]
The Success of Red-eared Sliders Comes at the Expense of Native Turtles
Invasive species are one of the greatest threats to biodiversity facing our native plants and animals today. While not every exotic species moved to a new region by humans becomes problematic to native biodiversity, it is difficult to draw a line where a plant, animal, or pathogen is considered invasive vs. just non-native. Most species do […]
The Big Four of Turtle Conservation
If you like turtles, as most of us do, we would like to tell you about four species in urgent need of our help. Wood Turtles, Bog Turtles, Blanding’s Turtles, and Spotted Turtles are all in sharp decline, and to us, they are the Big Four of Turtle Conservation in the Northeastern United States. Although […]