TURTLES OF THE WEKIVA RIVER
TURTLES OF THE WEKIVA RIVER
This short film highlights a nine-year study to identify and count turtles along the river in order to gain a better understanding of the health of the population. The study was originated by herpetologist Eric Munscher. Turtles, commonly seen sunning themselves on logs on the river, are a barometer species of river health, says Munscher, “because they eat a lot of things, and get eaten by a lot of things.”
Tagging turtles so they can be identified if captured again once required notching a schute on their shells. Thanks to more modern methods, turtles today are being implanted with a chip that allows researchers to use a scanning device, much like that used in supermarket check-outs. The scanner identifies each turtle so researchers can determine growth rates and age.
The Friends of the Wekiva River, our region’s premier grassroots conservation group dedicated to protect the river system, have helped fund the new tagging technology.
Turtles that are being counted include the Peninsula cooter, Florida redbelly turtle, Florida softshell turtle, snapping turtle, and loggerhead musk turtle, among others. To date, some 4504 turtles have been tagged.
The state of Florida has some of the strongest freshwater turtle protection laws in the country. Florida DEP manages state lands within the Wekiva River State Aquatic Preserve.