Female DBT # 9731. Age 9.
With all the potential travails diamondback terrapins have to deal with in nesting, it’s gratifying when we hear a “feel-good” story to pass along. And thanks to Barbara Brennessel, retired professor at Wheaton College and terrapin researcher, for reporting it to us.
Barbara was doing her usual nest checks on Wellfleet’s Indian Neck. One of two nests she found was made by a turtle our researchers had seen before, indicated by small distinctive notches made in its carapace.
Barbara uses reader to get the number on the implanted tag.
The turtle was known to Wellfleet Bay as #9731, captured in 2009 and identified then as a 5 year old. But Barbara noticed something else about the turtle: Its first year growth ring was huge, meaning this animal had probably been “headstarted”–that is, cared for by Barbara and her students at Wheaton over the winter to increase its survival probability when it was released the following spring.
“(The first year growth ring) prompted me to scan her for internal tags and sure enough, she has an AVID tag. She is Terrapin B4, released on Lieutenant Island on June 2, 2005 when she was 1 year old and weighed 152 grams. Today, she laid eggs on Indian Neck and her babies are protected (if we can keep a step ahead of the foxes),” Barbara reported.
- Same female being released in 2005 on Lt. Island after her “head start”.
So, the special care the turtle received in its first year paid off to produce a 9 year old female who potentially could continue to lay eggs around Wellfleet Harbor for the next 30 years if she’s lucky. It’s stories like Barbara’s that make the twice-a-day nest checks and record keeping by our volunteer terrapin monitors and staff worthwhile!