Turtle behavior

TVB · 08-31-2004, 02:40 AM

Hillary Clinton on the weekend gab fests: "You find a turtle on a fence post, it didn't get there by accident."

Said in the context of whether the Shrub Regime was involved in orchestrating the Swiftboat Vet smear campaign.

Turtle experts...how high can a turtle climb?

As mentioned previously, I've got some items planned for October in another city and while I would love to be out there marching this week in NYC, don't want to risk two arrests in the course of 45 days *sigh* Any FQers there?

Betsy

Deb · 08-31-2004, 02:58 AM

I can't say much when it comes to politics and I don't consider myself a turtle expert... BUT.... as the caretaker of 30+ turtles I can confirm that turtles can in fact get to the top of fenceposts at a variety of heights.

People are often dumbfounded by how well turtles actually can climb ... and if they are struggling...they just pile themselves on top of each other until they reach the top... It is for this reason we have a 6 inch wide "flat top" lip on top of our lower fences...

http://www.lakejacksonturtles.org/climbing.htm
http://www.nightskyworkshop.com/turtle.htm
http://community.webshots.com/photo/...15964999ONfuNF

Deb
- It makes hurricane evacuees hard to contain on the porch!

*Monty* · 08-31-2004, 08:53 AM

when I fenced the back 40 in at home, the snapping turtle we had rescued in the pond went all up and down it wanting to get to my other pond that I share with my neighbor. After it nearly took my Irish setter's nose off, my daughter and I decided to relocate it to the other pond. Two days later, the silly thing is trying to get back into the pond we just moved it out of. It was pretty amazing how determined it was to get back on our side as it went up and down the fence line trying to get under the fence. The Irish setter finally convinced it otherwise (dogs are very brave when the fence is between them and whatever they are barking at). I was amazed at how strong that turtle was when we were trying to catch it.

Mandi · 08-31-2004, 09:30 AM

Oh my gosh, we saw one of those softshells scurrying across a 55 mph road on Sunday . . . they way it flop-flop-flopped across the road, my very first confused thought was, "Oh no, what is a baby seal doing all the way (inland) here???" Coastie Guy knew what it was, though - I'd never heard of them until then!