With turtle mating season underway, be on the look out for turtles crossing the road. You may even want to consider helping them along.
Welcome to this week's edition of Something Wild. I'm Rosemary Conroy for the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests.
It's time once again to be on the lookout for turtles crossing the road. Many females are out looking for places to lay their eggs. Non-breeding turtles also move around when the weather warms, checking out their neighborhoods and looking for food. It's not important why the turtle crosses the road, just that it makes it to the other side.
Turtles have a breeding strategy that is quite distinctive from mammals and birds. Most wild creatures breed every year, starting around their first or second birthday - or in the case of rodents, even younger. Larger mammals, like black bears, may breed only every other year, as it takes a lot of energy to reproduce. Bottom line: most birds and mammals generally replace themselves several times over their lifespan.
Turtles, on the other hand, given the right conditions, tend to live long, slow lives. It takes them years to reach breeding age - anywhere from 15 to 25 years or more, depending on the species. And they may not breed every year to boot. But turtles can live 50 years or longer. The turtle's strategy for long-term sustainability is to have many long-lived adults, replacing themselves slowly over time.
Unfortunately, this approach doesn't work so well in our modern world. Turtles now have to contend with increased development, which means more roads to cross. And turtle don't do roads well. Studies have shown that even a 3% annual loss of a local turtle population can wipe them all out in a shockingly short period of time.
Here's what you can do: One, discourage people from keeping turtles as pets - never ever a good idea. Two: Support conservation efforts to link large tracts of land so fewer turtles have to cross roads. And third, of course, help them across the road whenever possible.
Something Wild is a joint production of the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, New Hampshire Audubon, and NHPR.
For Something Wild, I'm Rosemary Conroy.
