In - Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge - Home€¦ · Meylan [ed.], Biology and Conservation of Florida...

2

Transcript of In - Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge - Home€¦ · Meylan [ed.], Biology and Conservation of Florida...

it might be unsurprising to document Bullfrog predation on yetanother species of turtle (e.g., reviews in Bury and Whelan 1984.U.S. Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Res.Publ. 155. Washington, D.C.; Casper and Hendricks 2005. InLannoo [ed.], Amphibian Declines: The Conservation Status ofUnited States Species, pp. 540-546. University of CaliforniaPress, Berkeley), the impacts of the predation reported herehave important conservation implications. Our data suggest thatBullfrogs can seriously affect population dynamics of relativelysmall, geographically separated populations of K. sonoriense , byseverely limiting or even eliminating annual recruitment. Further,with the expanding range of L. catesbeianus in the AmericanSouthwest, it is likely that we will continue to see these effects,unless steps are taken at landscape scales to address this issue.We greatly appreciate field assistance from P. Klink, B.

Stewart and R. J. Timmons. Our fieldwork adhered to guide-lines outlined in Beaupre et al. (2004. Guidelines for Use of LiveAmphibians and Reptiles in Field and Laboratory Research, 2nd

ed. Herpetological Animal Care and Use Committee, AmericanSociety of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists).

Submitted by CHRISTINA M. AKINS and THOMAS R.JONES, Nongame Branch, Arizona Game and Fish Department,5000 W. Carefree Highway, Phoenix, Arizona, 85086, USA(email: [email protected], [email protected]).

MACROCHELYS TEMMINCKII (Alligator Snapping Turtle).AERIAL BASKING AND CLIMBING ABILITY. Macrochel-ys temminckii is the largest freshwater turtle in North America(Ernst and Lovich 2009. Turtles of the United States and Canada.Smithsonian Institute Press, Washington D.C. 827 pp.), but theyare seldom encountered due to their secretive nature. There areprevious reports for aerial basking of M. temminckii hatchlings(Shelby and Jenson 2002. Herpetol. Rev. 33:304), juveniles/sub-adults (Ewert 1976. Herpetologica 32:150-156; Fan et al. 2005.Herpetol. Rev. 36:168; Thomas 2009. Herpetol. Rev. 40:336),and adults (Selman et al. 2008. Herpetol. Rev. 40:79). Here wereport another rare aerial basking observation of a juvenile M.temminckii.On 24 August 2009 (1300 h), while floating a popular recre-

ational canoeing stretch of Black Creek (near Brooklyn, For-rest County, Mississippi, USA), we observed a juvenile M. tem-minckii (approx. 10 em SCL) basking on a tangled root snag inthe middle of the creek channel (approx. 20 m wide). The waterwas approximately 1.5 m deep at the site and was clear enough tosee the bottom substrate (sandy gravel bottom). The tangled rootsnag emerged vertically out of the water approximately 50 emand the turtle was basking near the terminus of the snag whichwas 5 em in diameter at the basking site. Its head was extendedcompletely and resting on the tip of the snag. Directly below thebasking site of the turtle (approx. 15 cm from the top of the snag)was another limb (2-3 cm in diameter) that crossed perpendicu-lar to and was touching the basking snag; from the position ofthe turtle, we presume it had to climb over the obstacle to get toits desired basking location. The conditions were mostly sunny(air temperature 29°C) with water discharge at 36.5 m3/sec, wellbelow median daily stream flow (5l.8 mvsec; USGS Real-Timewater data, Black Creek Station [station 02479130] near Brook-

486

lyn). We were unable to determine water temperatures, but atnearby gauging station at a similar-sized creek (Tallahala Creekat Laurel, Mississippi [station 02437500]), water temperaturefluctuated between 25-28°C for 24 August 2009.The individual was initially thought to be a Razor-backed

Musk turtle (Sternotherus carinatus) due to the similarity in bask-ing site choice (vertical snags) and basking posture. It was onl-after we canoed past the individual did WS realize that it was a M_temminckii. Thereafter, we canoed back upstream to get a closerlook and the individual dove into the water when we were within5 m of the basking site; unfortunately, we were unable to getphotograph of the individual. Furthermore, the climbing abilityof this species at this size appears to be similar to S. carinatussince the observed individual climbed a nearly vertical snag andmaneuvered over an obstacle to get to its preferred basking site.Farr et al. (2005, op. cit.) also observed an individual M. tem-minckii (~35-40 em CL) that climbed 1 m above the water and3-4 m along a tree trunk, which also highlighted the climbingability of this species.Even though aerial basking is now reasonably well document-

ed for this species, it appears to be an uncommon behavior. Wesuggest that future observations of this behavior should still benoted to assist in understanding the life history of this secretiveturtle.

Submitted by WILL SELMAN, Department of BiologicalSciences, Box 5018, University of Southern Mississippi, Hat-tiesburg, Mississippi 39401, USA (e-mail: [email protected]); and MARKUS WILLIG, Moritzplatz 5, Augsburg, Ger-many 86150.

PSEUDEMYS NELSONI (Florida Red-bellied Turtle).TRAUMA SURVIVAL. Chelonians are known to be capable ofsurviving severe trauma (Cagle 1945. Copeia 1945:45; Landberget. al. 2010. Herpetol. Rev. 41:70). On 15 July 2008 an adult fe-male P. nelsoni was brought to Miami Metrozoo by a fishermanwho collected it in Biscayne Bay near Turkey Point Nuclear PowerPlant east of Homestead, Florida, USA. The turtle was missing thefrontal portion of its head including both eyes. Skin had grownover the traumatized area leaving the mouth as a small, circularopening with a vestige ofthe tongue visible (Fig. 1). Nasal open-ings were not visible. Radiographs revealed that the skull hadbeen cleanly severed over the eye sockets and the anterior portionof both lower mandibles was also missing. The turtle appearedhealthy in spite of its injury and held its head up, rotating it fromside to side in the same manner as a normal, sighted turtle would.The turtle weighed 2.78 kg. As it had apparently been feeding onits own since the injury, it was decided to release the animal intothe semi-natural conditions of one of the zoo exhibit moats whereits condition could be monitored. The moat was approximately450 m in length (with 170 m of this dry land) by 4 m wide withwater a depth of up to 1m. Potential food available in the moat forthis aquatic species included aquatic vegetation (Jackson 2006. III

Meylan [ed.], Biology and Conservation of Florida Turtles, pp.313-324. Chelonian Research Monographs No.3), aquatic inver-tebrates, and small fish. The turtle's weight was monitored overtime and increased to 3.07 kg in early October. This indicates thatit was capable of ingesting food, but no observations were made

Herpetological Review 41(4), 2010

~