{"id":5394,"date":"2022-06-27T11:35:51","date_gmt":"2022-06-27T15:35:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/?p=5394"},"modified":"2022-06-27T13:04:49","modified_gmt":"2022-06-27T17:04:49","slug":"turtle-cross-the-road","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/turtle-cross-the-road\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Did The Turtle Cross The Road?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is this a trick question? Not really. Every year, in mid to late spring, turtles start to move. The males are looking for partners and the females are looking for a good place to make a nest for their eggs. Unfortunately for a lot of them, this means crossing busy roads and a lot of them don\u2019t make it. Sun-warmed pavement and sandy road edges combine to attract these tiny travelers so look sharp as you drive \u2013 what might look like a rock in the roadway ahead could well be a turtle trying to cross.<\/p>\n

\"Blanding<\/span><\/p>\n

Blanding’s Turtle<\/p>\n

Michigan is home to about ten species of turtles, nine native and one introduced. The most common one is probably the pretty painted turtle, and most of us have seen a snapping turtle. We also have musk turtles, map turtles, spiny soft-shell turtles, spotted turtles, and the introduced red-eared slider. Three of our turtles are quite rare and if you\u2019ve seen one, congratulations! They are the wood turtle, the Blanding\u2019s turtle, and the Eastern box turtle.<\/p>\n

\"Painted<\/span><\/p>\n

Painted Turtle<\/p>\n

My pond is home to a small colony of painted turtles and two summers ago there was a pretty big snapper, but I think she has moved on. I\u2019ve found turtles in the yard trying to dig a nest for eggs a couple of times, but I have yet to find any baby turtles of any species. A shocking number of nests are dug up and the eggs are eaten by raccoons and other animals, often just days after being laid. A lot of animals eat baby turtles, too. It can take 20 years for a turtle to get old enough to breed so if I see one trying to cross a road you can bet I am going to pull over and try to help it.<\/p>\n

\"Snapping<\/span><\/p>\n

If you do try to help a turtle cross a road, always carry it in the same direction it was heading, and set it as far off the road as you can, 10 or 15 yards if possible. Never lift a turtle by it\u2019s tail, and don\u2019t be tempted to move it to another location \u2013 they know where they live and can be killed trying to get back home.<\/p>\n

\"Blandings<\/span><\/p>\n

Blanding’s Turtle<\/p>\n

Locally to me is the University of Michigan Edwin S. George Reserve<\/a>, a fenced 1300 acres where researchers are studying the endangered Blanding\u2019s turtle. Because they have been able to tag individual animals, they have been able to age one particular female as 83 years old (in 2016)<\/a>. I have been lucky enough to have seen a Blanding\u2019s come through my yard and it\u2019s a thrill every time. Now if only I can find a box turtle someday I can die happy.<\/p>\n

If you’re looking for additional resources for turtle information, please check out the Michigan Department of Natural Resources<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Holly<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is this a trick question? Not really. Every year, in mid to late spring, turtles start to move. The males are looking for partners and the females are looking for a good place to make a nest for their eggs. Unfortunately for a lot of them, this means crossing busy roads and a lot of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":5395,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[97,82],"tags":[71],"class_list":["post-5394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2022-posts","category-habitat","tag-holly-christensen"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5394"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5394\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5409,"href":"https:\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5394\/revisions\/5409"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}