Cars not turtles’ only hazard

For most of Georgia’s 19 freshwater turtle species, April through June is prime mating and nesting time —- and when the reptiles are most likely to be run over on the highway.

Female turtles are crossing roads and highways looking for dry land to deposit their eggs. They include painted turtles, box turtles, stinkpots or musk turtles, and map turtles, as well as yellow-bellied sliders, softshell turtles and common snapping turtles.

If you stop and pick up a road-crossing turtle to help it avoid becoming roadkill, make sure you take it to the side of the road to which it was heading. Otherwise, it’ll probably try to cross again.

In addition to being flattened by a speeding car, most of Georgia’s freshwater turtles face uncertain futures for other reasons, including collecting for the pet trade and the loss of wetlands to development.

A looming threat, however, is the consumption of turtles as gourmet food in Asian countries, especially China. China’s voracious appetite for turtle, served in soups and stews, has depleted many streams across Asia of the reptiles. Now, Chinese importers have turned to the turtle-rich waters of Georgia and other Southeastern states.

As such, hundreds of thousands of freshwater turtles —- especially softshells, cooters and sliders —- are being shipped annually from the Southeast to Asian countries, primarily China. Georgia law allows the unregulated and unlimited harvest of freshwater turtles except for six species protected as rare, endangered or threatened.

Alarmed by the situation, conservation groups last year petitioned Georgia to regulate commercial turtle harvests. The General Assembly this year proposed legislation to accomplish that, but the measure failed. The legislatures of South Carolina and Florida are still considering similar legislation.

Because turtles breed late in life and usually have low reproductive and survival rates, they are vulnerable to overharvest. Once a population is depleted, it may take many years for the species to recover, says John Jensen, herpetologist with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

Did you know?

Jensen is co-author of the new book “Amphibians and Reptiles of Georgia” ( University of Georgia Press). Some interesting turtle-nesting facts from the book:

> All turtles lay eggs on land, including huge sea turtles such as loggerheads, which are starting to crawl upon Georgia’s beaches to nest.

> Female turtles typically dig flask-shaped nests with their hind limbs, urinating on the ground to soften it for digging. A female deposits her eggs in the nest, covers it and abandons it, leaving it up to natural temperatures to incubate the eggs. High temperatures tend to produce females; low temperatures, males.

> Hatchlings of many Georgia turtles, including painted, Eastern mud and pond sliders, typically spend the winter underground in the nest and do not emerge until the following spring.

In the sky

The moon will be first quarter on Friday. Look for it in the south at sunset and setting about midnight, says David Dundee, astronomer with Tellus Northwest Georgia Science Museum. Mercury is low in the west just after dark. Venus, Mars and Jupiter are low in the east just before sunrise. Saturn rises out of the east at sunset.

seabrk@comcast.net