Turtles are not rare around here, but you see them only in June when they leave the safety of their swamps to head for mating grounds and to lay their eggs. They often end up on the road, where they are at great risk of being run over. This one had decided to cross the road.
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| Eastern Painted Turtle |
Our most common kinds are the painted turtle and the snapping turtle. The latter gets very big and is aggressive (in French it is called "la tortue hargneuse" which you could translate as “the bad mood turtle”. "Snapping" and "Bad Mood" describe it to a T). In order to put one out of danger, I once tried to hurry her across a busy road by prodding her with a dead tree branch. She turned around in a flash and snapped in two that branch which was almost the size of my wrist. Snapping turtles are not to be fiddled with.
Little painted turtles, however, are not aggressive, but lovable. That is the lady of the title of this post. You might wonder how I knew it was a female. Sexing turtles must be rather difficult (apparently males have longer claws), but since I noticed that this one had started digging a nest on the road embankment, I concluded it was a female. Presumably, cases of pseudopregnancies among male turtles are rather rare. Female turtles like laying their eggs in the gravel on the shoulder of the road, no doubt because it gets very warm. This is why they can easily be run over, especially when they decide to cross the road at their leisurely pace.
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| Eastern Painted Turtle |
This one was right in the middle of the road, pondering whether she should turn back to the side she came from or cross over. Fortunately, there is at most a car every ten minutes on that road. We stopped, and I moved her on the side where the ditch was wet. I hope that later on she did not decide she wanted the other side after all. I doubt it, because I saw her heading from the ditch for the woods as fast as her short legs would take her.
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| Eastern Painted Turtle |
Last week, while driving, I saw both a snapping turtle and a painted turtle crossing the road within about half a mile of each other. The snapping turtle was on a small side road, and almost immediately, I passed a man, who was (presumably) coming to provide assistance. The painted turtle was on a much busier road ... in the middle of the yellow line. Eric and Stephen, who were coming back from the cottage, also saw it in the same place.
ReplyDeleteE.
There seem to be many of them this year. Several people have reported seeing them. Perhaps it is because our spring was relatively wet. On busy roads, they do not have much of a chance. This one was also right in the middle of the road. Perhaps once they get to the middle, with cars passing by on both sides, they become uncertain about what to do.
DeleteBonjour Alain,
ReplyDeleteIL est vrai que mes hermann se sauvent, ça marche très vite une tortue et en plus ça grimpe très bien. Je ne posterai plus de billets sur les miennes (il y a des vols et aussi il faudrait les déclarer).
Bonjour du Marais Poitevin (lejardindejacotte.com)