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V 10-Orono Weekly Times, Wednesday, June 3, 1981 Snapping turtles on way WOODS, WATER AND WILDLIFE fey Ron Reid - Federation of Ontario Naturalists Along the marshy shores on Ontario waterways, the water lilies are emerging, and so are one of the most ancient creatures of the marsh, the 1 snapping turtle. The mossy back and sharp-ridged tail of this scavenger of the marsh ' may become a rare sight, however, if the fears , of researcher Martyn Obbtu are correct. Obbard has been stuyding the snapping turtles in part of Algonquin Park, and has turned up a fascinating life history. After emerging from deep in the mud where they spend 8 months of the year, the turtles establish home ranges in shallow water. Most of their food is vegetation, but the strong jaws of a snapper snapper will ambush a frog or minnow if one happens nearby. nearby. Snapping turtles are long- lived, up to 25 or 30 years, but they seldom produce young before the age of 8. These turtles lay eggs in sandy banks, and Obbard found that some females in his study area travel up to five miles just to nest. Once the 30 or so eggs are buried in sand, the mother returns to her marsh. Almost half of the nests are ransacked the first night by foxes and racoons. Since the eggs need 90-120 days in the warm sand to incubate, incubate, many of the young fail to emerge before winter and are killed by frost. Amazingly, the sex of the turtles that hatch is determined determined not by the parents, but by the temperature of the sand -the warmer the sand, the - higher the percentage of females. Snapping turtles in recent years have become much sought after as a gourmet delicacy, and the annual take in the Lindsay district alone is 25-30 tons per year. Almost all of'this turtle-trapping is done by Americans, whose native waters have already been cleaned out of snapping turtles. Obbard warns that a population such as this, which normally is very slow to reproduce and which has low natural mortality of adults, simply cannot stànd such exploitation. He suggests suggests that we need regulation of their trapping, under the authority of the Minister of Natural Resources, and protection protection of their nest sites. Obbard's work has given as fair warning of the threat facing Ontario's snapping turtles:» If we fail to act, we stand to lose another interesting interesting and valuable part of our acquatic ecology. Floyd Nicholson R.R. 4, Lindsay Carpentry General Repairs 30 years experience good workmanship reasonable rates Gall Collect 705-324-0907 Clarke Public LIBRARY Tues.-Thurs, Fri. Sat. 1-9 p.m. 1-6 p.m. 9-5 p.m. Closed Mondays 983-5507 ^Newcastle Public Library Board Office 983-5115 Home 983-5^70 Susan M. 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