Last autumn, I had the chance to see a private collection of over one thousand turtles. It included some of the rarest turtles on earth. There was a gray turtle from the Amazon that had feathery, fringy things all over. It looked for all the world like a water-rotted log. I saw a Roti Island snake-necked turtle, found only on a tiny island in Indonesia, with eyes like yellow-and-black targets.
But in my opinion, the most beautiful of all the wondrous turtles I saw was the spotted turtle. There was something about the intensity of the yellow polka dots on its green-brown shell that caught and held my eye. Of all these turtles from all over the planet, the turtle I was most attracted to can be found in Vermont and New Hampshire (though only in the southernmost part of each state).
The Chinese call spotted turtles “starry sky turtles.” It’s a description that is as poetic as it is apt. But why do people in China have a name at all for a turtle that is native to North America? It’s a tale that spans the globe, much like that collection of turtles I saw.
Turtles are in trouble all over the world. In our region, Blanding’s turtle in New Hampshire and the spotted turtle in Vermont are listed as endangered in their respective states. The main reason for the rarity of both turtles is that human development is encroaching on species that are already living at the far northern edge of their ranges. Blanding’s are more common in the Midwest, and spotted turtles are more frequently found in the Carolinas and Virginia.
The New Hampshire Department of Fish and Game and the University of New Hampshire are just wrapping up a three-year study of Blanding’s turtles. These turtles, which John Kanter, coordinator of New Hampshire’s Nongame and Endangered Wildlife Program, describes as having a shell “so humped up and domed, it looks like an old World War I helmet,” are found in the southeastern part of the state. The researchers discovered that their home-range requirements are surprisingly large.
Each year in early summer, a female Blanding’s turtle takes off, searching for the perfect sun-warmed place with loose soil in which to lay her eggs. She can be quite picky about the site, crawling on for miles until she finds the right one. The study showed that while many males like to stay close to the home pond, one radio-tracked Casanova in the study was observed mating with 10 different females in different locations.
The problem for Blanding’s on long journeys is roads. Roads are a problem for all our region’s turtles. Blanding’s and other turtles take a long time to get across the road. If enough cars come along, one is sure to hit and kill the turtle.
If road deaths are a problem for frogs, which produce hundreds of eggs each year, notes Jim Andrews of Middlebury College and organizer of Vermont’s reptile and amphibian atlas, they are that much more troublesome for turtles, which lay a fraction as many eggs. Even worse, while frogs live fast and die young, turtles have a long lifespan.
“These little guys live on a human timetable,” says Laura Deming of the New Hampshire Audubon Society. “They are sexually mature in their late teens and can live for 70 to 80 years, easily.”
It is this long, human-like lifespan that has made turtles a part of Chinese culture. Turtles are popular pets in China, are a middle-class culinary delight (think lobster or veal in our culture), and are used as medicine — all because they are symbols of long life.
China’s increasing wealth and foreign trade mean that turtles are disappearing into China from all over Asia. Three-quarters of Asia’s native turtle species are threatened. Conservationists hope that new laws, education, and farmed turtles will reverse the trend while respecting a culture that has existed for millennia.
Conservationists are worried that the American south may become a big source for turtles exported to China. But, John Kanter points out, the turtles in our area have little to fear from this aspect of the global turtle crisis. Our turtles are well-protected by law and are just not abundant enough to be profitably hunted for food.
While our region’s turtles don’t have to worry about being eaten by humans, we do create other threats by building our neighborhoods on top of their neighborhoods, and, of course, by hitting them with our cars. When you see a turtle crossing the road, remember, it just wants to get to the other side.