Turtle Tags and Pedicures

Read part one HERE

Marcel and I hauled the day’s catch up to the fourth floor of Ohio University’s Irvine Hall. The lab at the very end of the hallway would soon become our second home for the week. As we unpacked animals, we quickly discovered that the pencil cases contained almost as much turtle poop as they did actual turtles.  Dr. Viorel Popescu, Marcel’s advisor, shuddered as the deep, musky odor triggered memories of his undergrad work cleaning turtle enclosures.  

As scientists, we were to refrain from giving the turtles names. “They say not to name study animals because you might attribute personalities to them,” Marcel explained, “but they have personalities!” Naturally, within the hour we had named every last one.  Heidi Bencin, another of Viorel’s grad students, proudly named one of the large males “Rumple-scute-skin.” (a play on the word for the turtles’ large shell plates or scutes.)  Other names included King George, Ethel, Stumpy, and Lady MacBeth.

We took measurements and photographs of each turtle, then notched the back scutes using a dremel tool.  This designated each individual with a number that could be read even after we removed their transmitters.  Marcel handed me a book titled, North American Box Turtles: A Natural History.  “This has everything you will need to know about these guys,” Marcel assured me.  I happily accepted the book; I was eager to learn as much about our shelled study subjects as possible.  

There was just one more step before we attached the radio antennas—toe nail clipping.  

We wanted to study how living near the Nelsonville Bypass was affecting the turtles' stress levels.  Box turtles deposit their stress hormone, corticosterone, in their nails over time.  Taking nail samples is the least invasive and stressful method of obtaining samples of this hormone.  Catching and handling the box turtles would spike the levels of corticosterone in their blood, rendering a blood sample useless.  Using a needle to take blood would also be dangerous for the turtles and the handler.  

Using turtle toenails to test levels of corticosterone was a relatively new technique.  It had only been done in one other study using painted turtles, without definitive results. The turtles in that study showed little difference between individuals near an old road and individuals in undisturbed habitat.  Our research, however, would be studying turtles that had only just begun adapting to a new roadway.  The Nelsonville Bypass had been built just four years prior, and the turtles were beginning to feel its effects.  A single turtle population was now divided by a wall of traffic.  Turtles that used habitat on the opposite side would now be cut off.  Potential mates, food, and other resources were now unavailable to them.  We weren’t sure how the turtles would respond to the road, but we felt certain it would have a negative impact.  

We needed five or six nails from each turtle, but gaining access to the turtles' feet was tricky.  The large males, King George and Rumple-scute-skin, were bold enough for us to hold their legs without attempting to retreat into their shells.  For most of the turtles, however, we had to wait until they peeked out of their shells just enough for us wedge in a pink eraser before they clamped shut.  The eraser was soft enough that it wouldn't hurt the turtle, but firm enough to hold the shell open.  Using cat claw clippers, we snipped millimeters off the tip of each toenail.  If we hit the quick and the turtle bled, the sample would be ruined.  It was long and tiring work, but our amiable little turtles kept us entertained.

With all the turtle pedicures completed, it was time to attach the radio transmitters.  Only full grown adults would be getting the large antennas.  Using epoxy, we carefully fit the inch-long base of the transmitter onto just one scute. This would keep the radio transmitter from hindering normal shell growth and expansion.  The wire antenna itself would project about half a foot out from each turtle, allowing us to pick up a clear signal with our radio telemetry equipment.  Each transmitter sent out a different frequency which we would be able to pick up and follow in the field.  

We woke bright and early the next day, packed the turtles in their now clean pencil cases, and headed back out to the impact site.  We pulled the numbered flags and placed the turtles back where the dogs had found them.  I wished each luck and departed with a “see you soon!”

Read part three HERE