POST-GAZETTE (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) 27 June 04 Box turtle numbers are dwindling because of fragmented home ranges (Ben Moyer)
The small lumpish object in the middle of the Greene County back road looked suspiciously unlike a rock, chunk of asphalt or other debris. As I approached, the lump proved to be something I seem to encounter less frequently with each passing summer. It was a box turtle, crossing the road that bisected a wooded ridge.
I stopped, picked up the animal and carried it a short distance into the woods it had been plodding toward. I examined it just long enough to note the concave lower shell and red eye that indicate a male box turtle.
The turtle provided a reassuring encounter but it wasn't until I rounded the next curve that the morning proved truly unusual. There, crossing the road in the same direction was another turtle.
Again I stopped and moved the reptile to temporary safety, this time into a large uncut field he'd been approaching. But I looked more closely. This turtle was also a male, just a little smaller than the first. The carapace, or top shell, was marked with bold yellow dashes centered in each of the 13 scutes, or plates, that covered the dome. The yellow dashes contrasted against such a dark background that this turtle looked like a walking Steelers promotion.
Where its rear left leg should have been there was just a healed-over stump, the foot probably lost in youth to a raccoon or skunk, or to a nip from a passing car. This turtle was more active and began pushing through the grass the moment I placed it on the ground. Watching it depart, it was hard to imagine a more harmless and gentle creature or one that better indicates our own imprint on the living diversity of our region.
Box turtles are declining all across their range, which reaches from the Atlantic coast, across the southern half of Pennsylvania to the Mississippi River valley and south to the Gulf Coast and Florida. Regrettably, I have never kept personal records of my box turtle encounters but they seemed far more frequent in the past. Many people who spend time outdoors echo that observation and scientists are documenting the decline.
A number of aspects of box turtle biology make them vulnerable in the world of today. They exhibit what biologists call high "site fidelity," which means that individual animals occupy a small home range, sometimes only a few acres. Roads, rights of way, and other developments fragment box turtle home ranges so their movements put them at the mercy of speeding cars and ATVs. The recent increase in logging and the movement of heavy machinery through woodlots further impacts their populations.
Box turtles also have a reproductive strategy, developed over eons, that doesn't work well today. Their approach is to produce small numbers of young each year, but do so over a long lifetime. Box turtles have the longest life span or any animals in North America, which individuals possibly reaching 120 years of age. Few young turtles reach maturity and the population depends upon a constant trickle of new recruits produced by adults. In that scenario, the loss of even one adult turtle can push the local population toward decline.
Conservation-minded people can't do much about the fragmentation of habitats which support box turtles but, according to a Clarion University professor, they can avoid making the box turtle's plight even worse.
Dr. William Belzer, who has pioneered the restoration of box turtle populations at the McKeever Environmental Learning Center in Mercer County, said people should never collect box turtles for pets. "If you are lucky enough to see a box turtle wandering the woods, please leave it untouched," Belzer said. "Simply revel in the peaceful privilege of beholding a life form that graced this earth before the age of dinosaurs."
Belzer said that turtles moved to new locations wander endlessly in search of their original home site, often encountering roads or other dangers. Even keeping turtles briefly, then releasing them at the capture site is dangerous because turtles can develop diseases in captivity and transmit them to other turtles they encounter.
Belzer believes that the only time people should ever move a box turtle is to get the animal out of immediate danger. Even then the turtle should be moved a minimal distance in the direction it was traveling.
Belzer's work in box turtle conservation needs funding help to continue. To learn more about his research, contact Belzer at 814-676-6591. His address is Dr. William Belzer, Biology Department, Clarion University, Venango Campus, 1801 West First St., Oil City, Pa., 16031. Donations should be sent to Venango Area Community Foundation, Belzer Turtle Trust, 213 Seneca Street, Oil City, Pa., 16301.
Box turtle numbers are dwindling because of fragmented home ranges