Better know a terrapin
Last Thursday, Stephen Colbert adopted Stephanie Colburtle the (Leatherback) Turtle, who so far is leading on this first day of The Great Turtle Race, from Costa Rica to the Galapagos - assuming she doesn’t mistake any plastic bags for jellyfish along the way. Apparently, this is an offshoot of Stephen’s 240-part series “Better know a Terrapin” which I am eager to see but, to my knowledge, this series hasn’t actually aired yet… Since Testudo the Terrapin is the mascot of the University of Maryland – where I did my graduate studies – when I wasn’t riding tides around the Chesapeake Bay in a kayak looking for its notorious ambassadors, I’m going to kick it off here.
What has fascinated me about the diamondback terrapin is the way its existence is intertwined with the diverse habitats found in the Bay, in the various stages of its lifecycle. It is adapted to brackish water, nests on what little is left of the sandy beaches, finds shelter among what is left of underwater sea grasses and on the disappearing predator free islands, feeds in the salt marshes, hibernates in the muddy bottoms of creeks and rivers where the salinity is low, and moves between salinity gradients in the bay itself, surfacing to drink freshwater found on the surface after it rains. It has also been found drowned in crab pots and at Maryland basketball games, cheering for the Terps – at least in the year they won the national championship.
Although Terrapins can be found in estuaries of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, the Chesapeake Bay, with its extensive mix of shallow and nearshore habitats, happens to be the terrapin stronghold, So while non-Marylanders are warned to “Fear the Turtle” I fear for it. To save the Terrapins, we have to protect the whole Bay, just as to save the Leatherbacks, we have to protect the ocean – particularly the nearshore and coastal areas, with comprehensive conservation strategies. For more information, visit The Terrapin Institute.
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Pictured above is one of the 50 sculptures exhibited around the state last year in the UMD Fear the Turtle Sculpture Project. It is entitled Thanks for all the fish, was done by Kit Cappillino, and was located by the National Aquarium in Baltimore. Pictured below is Michelangelo, the Mutant Ninja Terrapin, who I would not want to see get upset. The latter is a creation of David Brosch.
Reference
Hart, K.L. and D.S. Lee. The Diamondback Terrapin: The biology, ecology, cultural history and conservation status of an obligate estuarine turtle. Studies in Avian Biology No. 32: 206-213.
