TIMES COLONIST (Victoria) 04 June 06 Pacific turtle is the rarest and prettiest (Carrie West)
Painted turtles hide their light under a bushel. Their drab top shell gives no hint of the colourful, blotchy pattern -- almost like a native art design -- below.
Why this secret painting on the bottom shell? "I've found that is a really interesting question. I've never heard anybody give an answer that makes any sense," says Ronald Brooks, a University of Guelph zoologist.
Our western painted turtle boasts the most colourful of these mysterious markings of the four subspecies of painted turtles in North America. "The western is unique in that is has the bright orange underside, with the big central blotching pattern on it," says Brooks. "The others have light yellow usually, and a much smaller pattern."
Could these paintings attract mates swimming underneath? Unlikely -- both sexes are brightly coloured. And mating painted turtles meet face to face. The male turtles grow very long front toenails and caress the female's face as foreplay. Then, if she's impressed, the female sinks to the bottom; the male follows and mounts her. At some point, courtship gets rough. Brooks says 60 per cent of the females he's studied have severe facial wounds and scars. The males bite them. Brooks doesn't know why. It's possible the male is peeved at the female when he's rejected and bites her, even though she is significantly larger. Not surprisingly, the smallest males father the most offspring.
Another interesting fact: gender in painted turtle eggs, as with many turtles, depends on heat during incubation. High temperatures produce female offspring; cold produce males. So that raises the question: Is global warming going to produce only female turtles and wipe out painted turtle populations across North America?
No, says Brooks. "I don't believe that, not because I don't believe in global warming, but because we've gone through severe changes in temperature in the past and this is one of the groups of animals that has survived through all of them." Brooks says turtles adjust to changing climates, nesting earlier in warm years, like flowers that bloom early in a warm spring.
While painted turtle populations remain secure in North America, they are considered rare and endangered on the B.C. coast ... not that anyone has studied them.
In B.C., it's more common to see a red-eared slider turtle, sold at pet stores. Many have moved from home aquariums to B.C.'s great outdoors. They look similar, until you check the lower shell. But good luck trying to catch a painted turtle -- it will dive into water to avoid you. The best way to tell them apart? The red-eared slider has red blotches where its ears would be, if it had ears. Sightings of either turtle or any other exotics in B.C. waters are of interest to provincial biologists. Go to www. env.gov.bc.ca/wld/frogwatch to report a sighting.
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