Markus Auer In Search of
Markus Auer In Search of Chelonians in Connecticut and New York State Introduction North America is home to a wealth of plant and animal species, in particular amphibians and reptiles, that is much greater than the fauna of Europe. This is a consequence of the alignment of the large mountain chains that have made it easier for species to disperse back north from their southern refuges after the last ice age. It has therefore long been my desire to pay the US or Canada a visit and observe chelonians in their natural habitats. It has by now become a tradition that a member of the board of the DGHT Workgroup Chelonians will visit one of the major reptile fairs in the United States to promote our association, attract new members, and exchange ideas and experiences related to the captive care of chelonians. The associated travel expenses are for the largest part funded privately, and often we will be exempted from the rather substantial fees for a stall in exchange for a lecture on a chelonian subject at the National Reptile Breeders Expo in Daytona, Florida, or the Phoenix Reptile Show in Arizona. It was thus that we accepted an invitation by Wayne Hill in August of 2016 and took a flight to America. We had planned to arrive ten days prior to the Breeders Expo in order to have time for visiting the northeastern parts of the US, namely Connecticut, New York and New Jersey, and make a trip to the south to Tallahassee in Florida. “We” here meant Mario Herz, my wife Susann Auer, and myself. The following is an account of what we observed in the two neighbouring states of Connecticut and New York State. We had made the acquaintance of Anthony Pierlioni during the course of a previous trip to the US when we attended the meeting of the TTPG (Turtle and Tortoise Preservation Group) in Arizona in November of 2015. Anthony was an involved keeper of chelonians based in Connecticut and had assured us he would happily share his substantial knowledge of chelonians living in the CT (Connecticut) and NY (New York State) region and be our guide if we ever wanted to see chelonians in the wild. CT is home to a total of eight species: Chelydra serpentina, Chrysemys picta (pure picta and an intergrade with marginata), Clemmys guttata, Glyptemys insculpta, G. muhlenbergii, Malaclemmys terrapin terrapin, Terrapene carolina carolina, and Sternotherus odoratus. NY even harbours thirteen species: Chelydra serpentina, Chrysemys picta, Clemmys guttata, Emydoidea blandingii, Glyptemys insculpta, G. muhlenbergii, Graptemys geografica, Kinosternon subrubrum, Malaclemmys terrapin terrapin, Pseudemys rubriventris, Terrapene carolina carolina, Sternotherus odoratus, Trachemys scripta scripta, and T. scripta elegans (Ernst & Lovich 2009). The eastern parts of the United States are fairly densely populated, and there is a remarkably dense network of roads that link the cities and towns. However, there are also a relatively large numbers of water bodies and small forests in between that make for potential chelonian habitats. People here continue to fragment the landscape and dispossess animals and plants of their living spaces. It is therefore not uncommon for encounters with chelonians to take place at the fringes of newly developed settlements, like, for example, when a Box Turtle or a Snapper walks through the garden of the new bipedal owners simply because it always used to be part of its home range. Some species fare better than others in the direct neighbourhood of humans, like, for example, Sternotherus odoratus or Chrysemys picta, because they are less demanding as to the quality of their habitats and can survive in very small or man- 4 RADIATA 26 (2), 2017
In Search of Chelonians in Connecticut and New York State made water bodies and the surrounding fallow lands. Others may instead require a mosaic of habitats through the annual cycle (Glyptemys insculpta, Clemmys guttata) or particular situations such as marshlands with specific vegetation societies (Glyptemys muhlenbergii) (Ernst & Lovich 2009). Aside from the direct loss of habitat, the proximity of humans will create a number of other threats: Collecting for commerce (or as a pet picked right from the garden, because this cute little Box Turtle would “pop by” every so often anyway), traffic on the roads (in particular in seasonally migrating species or females ready to deposit their eggs), and even through predators such as racoons that tend to develop unnaturally large populations in the vicinity of humans. We were therefore not a little surprised when Anthony reported that chelonians could still be found almost everywhere in CT, even on the narrow strips of green that separated the lanes of the highways (C. guttata) or right behind human settlements (T. carolina). However, these populations have become very thin, and chances of spotting an animal were slim. In the case of the Box Turtle, I figured it would be like going out to see a hedgehog in the field in Germany. Coincidental sightings would number maybe one or two during the course of a year, but finding these animals on purpose would usually fail miserably. If you want to find terrestrial chelonians in CT, you will have to go to a nature park or protected refuge in spring or early summer or ask local people who might know of a more individual-rich population in a larger unprotected forest area. Things become easier in the case of aquatic chelonians as the region is fairly rich in water bodies and the more common and less particular species continue to persist in most of them. Chelydra serpentina and Chrysemys picta in the surroundings of Hartford, CT Because our schedule was quite tight, and we had to be in Florida in a few days’ time, we ventured to those water bodies Antony had been familiar with since his childhood days and kept on visiting on a regular basis also afterwards so that it was almost guaranteed that we would see turtles there. First on our list was a canal in the Norton Park in Plainville. Its water appeared to be organically polluted as there was a thick layer of fermenting muck on the bottom of the 6 metre-wide canal. What I noticed first were a number of large bubbles and murky water near a bridge, which, according to Anthony, were indicative of a large turtle going into hiding. On closer inspection, I could indeed recognize the rear portion of an about 40 cm-long Common Snapping Turtle that moved very swiftly in the mud and could not be seen any longer in the murky water just seconds later; we could not even recover it Fig. 1. Canal in the municipal park of Plainville, habitat of Chelydra serpentina, Chrysemys picta, and Sternotherus odoratus. RADIATA 26 (2), 2017 5
