Tracks of the turtles
By MIKE UNGER, Staff Writer Jeff Popp and Julia Grisar are turtle trackers.
Interns with the Terrapin Institute, the college students spend their summer days creeping through sand and muck, following footprints left by Maryland's official reptile.
From May through July, female diamondback terrapins emerge from the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries to lay eggs. These are the turtles Mr. Popp and Ms. Grisar want to find - and tag.
Jeff Popp, a Towson University student interning with the Terrapin Institute, holds a female terrapin at Sherwood Forest in Crownsville. He tags terrapins that people find in the wild. |
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"We're trying to get an idea of how many of these animals there are and where they are," said Mr. Popp, a senior at Towson University.
Diamondback terrapins prefer to lay their eggs on sandy, beachlike terrain, but a decline in that habitat is forcing more and more to use grass, mulch and even rocky areas.
That's bringing them closer to populated areas, and making them more visible to people.
About 20 minutes after laying their eggs, the females return to the water. Eggs that remain in someone's waterfront yard, for instance, can heat up too quickly, reducing the chances of healthy young being born.
The interns are asking anyone who witnesses the process to call them.
University of Maryland intern Julia Grisar holds a female terrapin ready to be released into the wild. |
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Mr. Popp, a herpetology student who's been working with terrapins for six years, and Ms. Grisar, a biology major at the University of Maryland, can remove eggs from an unnatural nesting environment and take them to the institute's hatchery at Arlington Echo Outdoor Education Center in Millersville.
They also tag females, in hopes that a waterman who hauls one up from the bottom of the bay will throw her back.
"We want to protect the abundance of diamondback terrapins," said Marguerite Whilden, co-founder of the institute. "We have no idea how many there are."
Terrapin supporters fear that the population is dwindling, pointing to ever-increasing riprap in developments that robs the reptiles of their favored nesting grounds.
A small metal tag on the shell of a diamondback terrapin allows the Terrapin Institute to count Maryland's population. The Institute, dedicated to preserving the reptiles, also hopes that watermen who catch a tagged terrapin will release it. |
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However, no figures exist to back up their claims. No comprehensive study of the population has been done, said Ms. Whilden, a former terrapin expert with the Department of Natural Resources.
She and others at the institute are calling for a fishing moratorium on the terrapins.
"Maryland needs to wise up," she said. "Good fisheries management is based on fishing mortality, and we don't know that" with terrapins.
Ms. Whilden was quick to say that she doesn't blame watermen or seafood markets for taking part in a legal fishery. In fact, she credited some in those industries for alerting her when terrapins are on the market.
The institute aggressively buys terrapins, which sell for about $4 each, in an effort to save them from the soup kettle.
If the state enacts a moratorium, Ms. Whilden would support compensating commercial watermen who harvest terrapins. She believes there are about five in the state who do so.
Last year, watermen hauled in 676 pounds of terrapins, according to the DNR. An average female weighs 1 pounds.
A female terrapin. |
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Primarily females are harvested, because they usually grow to twice the size of males.
Aside from man, terrapins' predators include raccoons, foxes, hawks and eagles. Hatchlings that emerge from incubators at Arlington Echo often are sent to one of the institute's Head Start programs, where they're raised by school-children until they're big enough to be released.
Diamondback terrapins are the only brackish water turtles in North America, Mr. Popp said.
The interns and others have tagged more than 1,200 turtles already this year. Over the last four years, more than 2,500 have been tagged.
"They're like snowflakes - every marking is different," Mr. Popp said. "They're beautiful."
If you see a female diamondback terrapin or a nest and want to contact the Terrapin Institute, call Jeff Popp at 443-804-5564.
munger@capitalgazette.com
Raising Diamondback Terrapins
text and photos courtesy of the MD Dept. of Natural Resources
 January 2000 Jeff Popp is a junior at Parkville High school. He is a Senior Intern/Assistant for Terrapin Station, an on-going diamondback terrapin project. Terrapin Station is part of the Conservation and Stewardship Program in the Maryland Department of Natural Resources Fisheries division. Marguerite Whilden is the manager for the Conservation and Stewardship Program.
Part of Jeff’s work includes the development of a journal to inform the public, and volunteers of the Turtle Tots program, of experiences, observations, and stories about the program. His job is to share his experiences from a teenage point of view. What follows is a journal entry Jeff made about a rough night he spent with one of his terrapins this past winter.
Never, never, never give up!
by Jeff Popp
| Everything was going fine. My family had fallen in love with the terpies. They were growing fast and their weight and plastron length was recorded every two weeks. They were eating like monsters. They recognized me as "One who brings us food."
They even were the stars of a presentation done at my school on the Diamondback terrapin, by Marguerite Whilden, the turtle tots project leader, and I. It was great, and I thanked Marguerite for a fabulous job. The students learned everything from how to tell male and female terrapins apart to how the terrapin was a major food source in the turn of the century. It got the students interested in conservation as well. Marguerite has even been invited back to do more presentations.
Between a rock and a hard place
Last Saturday night, 1/22/00, I came home from visiting my uncle, who is very ill, and decided to check on my turtle tots before going to bed. It was a good thing that I did! Larry and Moe were fine, but Curly was stuck between a rock and a hard place, literally. He must have been like that for at least an hour, unable to surface for breaths of air.
I pulled him out. My dad was certain he was dead, but I was determined to bring him back. I remember Marguerite saying terps can be revived after being dead for up to a day. The only problem was, I forgot how. I tried everything from pinching his foot to rubbing his neck to squeezing his body to get the water out. He showed no sign of life whatsoever. I asked Dad to get me a bag to freeze him in, as the project requires the return of any deceased specimens for study.
As he left I held the lifeless turtle up to my ear to listen for a heartbeat or breath or tiny movement to tell me he was alive. I heard nothing. I tried once more, not expecting anything, but to my surprise, he gasped for air. I immediately took action and started gently squeezing his plastron and carapace together to get his heart going again.
A long night
I would do it about five times, and then he would gasp for air and squirt water from his mouth. I did that for about a half an hour and he started to breathe by himself. I did not want to take the chance of losing him overnight, so I laid on my bed with him on my chest for about another hour.
Every time he would put his head down I would gently squeeze his shell together, just to make sure he was breathing. Finally, I put him in a bucket with a damp cloth for the night. It is important that you keep them out of the water and cool for few days after something like this happens.
If terps are warm, they use more oxygen. In a case like this, they need to conserve all the oxygen they can. Also, don't put them back in the water. They have pretty much had all the water they can stand for a couple of days and swimming could only do them harm.
Finally, at 2:30 AM, I went to bed. If you have interesting observations, funny stories, or any information you'd like to share or think other Turtle Tots volunteers want or need to know, write it up and send it along. Thanks, and take care of yourselves and your terps!
- Jeff Popp
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