A Wildlife Article from All-Creatures.org

Give Turtles a Brake!

From Steven Krichbaum, CounterPunch.org
June 2024

Most turtle species possesses life history traits that make populations especially vulnerable and sensitive to increased human-caused loss and mortality: slow growth, late maturity, long lives, low reproductive potential (small clutches), and high natural mortality of eggs and hatchlings (such as from predators).

Hatchling Wood Turtle emerging from a roadside nest in Virginia

It’s that time of year, maybe you’ve already noticed. Animals are back and moving about and trying to reproduce. But in this age of hundreds of millions of motor vehicles going everywhere at high speeds, anybody who’s slow is vulnerable. And one of the most vulnerable to death on our highways are turtles. No matter how many times I see them crushed and lifeless on a road, it breaks my heart. It must happen hundreds or thousands of times a day in the USA.

Nesting Females: Roads, Roadsides, Vehicles, and Predators

What makes it even worse is that a disproportionate amount of the turtles being killed are adult females. They are especially at risk because of the longer distance forays they make searching for nest sites in spring and summer [1]. Some turtles are terrestrial, such as Box Turtles and tortoises, some are amphibious, such as Wood Turtles, but most are aquatic — and they all lay eggs and nest on land. Even aquatic species such as Sliders and Cooters, and Map, Musk, Softshell, and Snapping Turtles may nest 200-550 yards from the water [2,3]. When they leave their wetlands in search of upland nest sites, they usually will have to cross at least one road.

In addition, roadsides generally fabricate the environmental conditions sought by female turtles for their nests – open canopy, short or sparse ground vegetation, and friable soil [4]. They are attracted to roadsides for foraging and basking also. But though the physical conditions may be favorable, such sites also incur increased mortality.

Breeding females are the ones most important to sustaining populations and the ones that populations can least afford to lose. Vehicular mortality can cause population declines and roadkill of females during the nesting season can be the most significant threat to population persistence [5,6]. The mortality to the adults can occur from not just vehicles, but also from the predators such as Raccoons who are attracted to roadsides [7]. These predators also dig up the nests and eat the eggs and the hatchlings. At one place, the proportion of turtle nests lost to Raccoon predation ranged from 63% to 100%, and this was in a “protected” area [7].

Population Viability

Most turtle species possesses life history traits that make populations especially vulnerable and sensitive to increased human-caused loss and mortality: slow growth, late maturity, long lives, low reproductive potential (small clutches), and high natural mortality of eggs and hatchlings (such as from predators) [8,9]. Some species, such as the northeast’s Wood Turtle, can take 15-20 years to reach maturity. And then, after reaching maturity, turtles must survive and reproduce for decades more just to replace themselves [10,11,12].

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Please read the ENTRE ARTICLE HERE, including:

• Nesting Females: Roads, Roadsides, Vehicles, and Predators
• Population Viability
• Roads and Roadkill
• Wildlife Friendly Passageways and Fencing
• Direct Action
• Stopping your vehicle and getting turtles off of roads can make a big difference 

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Posted on All-Creatures.org: June 8, 2024
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