{"title":"Nesting Behavior and Ecology in a Captive Population of Alligator Snapping Turtles (Macrochelys temminckii)","authors":"Denise M. Thompson, D. B. Ligon","doi":"10.1656/058.022.0sp1217","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract - We investigated nesting behavior and terrestrial activity in a captive population of Macrochelys temminckii (Alligator Snapping Turtle) housed outdoors in semi-natural environmental conditions in Oklahoma. The nesting season lasted from 12 May to 15 June 2012, and turtles were most active between the hours 2300–0300. Nesting duration averaged 182.5 min. Over 50% of nest construction time was spent excavating the cavity, whereas covering the eggs accounted for ∼28% of the total duration. Individual females averaged 25 non-nesting emergences before successfully depositing eggs. Terrestrial activity was positively correlated with increasing average nighttime temperature. We found thermal profiles generated by temperature data loggers affixed to females useful for studying terrestrial activity during nesting.","PeriodicalId":49490,"journal":{"name":"Southeastern Naturalist","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6000,"publicationDate":"2023-06-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Southeastern Naturalist","FirstCategoryId":"93","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1656/058.022.0sp1217","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Abstract - We investigated nesting behavior and terrestrial activity in a captive population of Macrochelys temminckii (Alligator Snapping Turtle) housed outdoors in semi-natural environmental conditions in Oklahoma. The nesting season lasted from 12 May to 15 June 2012, and turtles were most active between the hours 2300–0300. Nesting duration averaged 182.5 min. Over 50% of nest construction time was spent excavating the cavity, whereas covering the eggs accounted for ∼28% of the total duration. Individual females averaged 25 non-nesting emergences before successfully depositing eggs. Terrestrial activity was positively correlated with increasing average nighttime temperature. We found thermal profiles generated by temperature data loggers affixed to females useful for studying terrestrial activity during nesting.
期刊介绍：
The Southeastern Naturalist covers all aspects of the natural history sciences of terrestrial, freshwater, and marine organisms and the environments of the southeastern portion of North America, roughly bounded from North Carolina south to Florida, west to Texas, north to Oklahoma, and east back to North Carolina. Manuscripts based on field studies outside of this region that provide information on species within this region may be considered at the Editor’s discretion.
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