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Turtle Monitoring at TWC
Have you seen a marked turtle? Please click here to send us an email! |
We are studying the turtle population of the lake and pond here at The Wilderness Center. Turtles are marked with white letters on their shell. The information on this page will tell you a bit about our program. Follow the "monitoring progress" link to view pictures and updates about TWC's turtles. Be sure to check the newsletter and calendar for upcoming turtle programs too! |
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Why Mark Turtles?
The simple answer is so we can quickly and easily tell who's who - like wearing a name tag. When we can easily tell individuals apart, we can begin to learn more about them. One of the big things we'd like to learn about is the population dynamics of the lake - how many males to females, how many young versus old, how many total turtles. We would also like to learn about their habits - do they stay in the same part of the lake or move between lake and pond, how often do they hang around the pier, etc. |
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Kids page to print (pdf) |
Besides the notches and letter codes, each turtle also has three photos taken. From top: Carapace, Plastron, and
Head shot.
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How do we mark turtles?
Each turtle gets two sets of markings; one permanent, one temporary. The permanent marking is done by filing a series of three notches in the shell. To read the turtle code, you have to catch the turtle each time you want to identify it. To identify the turtle from a distance, we paint the letter code on each turtle's shell with fingernail polish. This marking usually lasts until the turtle sheds its scutes (scales), usually sometime in the summer. Neither one of these marking techniques harms the turtle. We also weigh and measure each turtle. |
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