0000000000423650
AUTHOR
Anna Najbar
The Body Size of Headstarted and Wild Juvenile European Pond Turtles (<i>Emys orbicularis</i>)
Headstarting is a popular conservation technique in which animals are raised under artificial conditions, and then released into natural habitat. The objective of this procedure is to grow animals to a size at which they are less vulnerable to predators. However, there is still little empirical evidence for the long-term effectiveness of the technique. Therefore, we compared body size of juvenile «wild» (= not taken to artificial rearing) and headstarted European pond turtles ( Emys orbicularis ), from two populations (in central and western Poland). Immediately after hatching there were no differences in size of the turtles, but after seven-ten years headstarted turtles were smaller. This …
Overwintering Site Fidelity in the European Pond Turtle (Emys orbicularis) in Western Poland
The location of overwintering sites of six male and six female European pond turtles (Emys orbicularis) were studied using radiotelemetry in Western Poland, over a period of four consecutive seasons. Most of the studied individuals overwintered in the same area during the research; most distances between two consecutive overwintering sites were 0–25 m. However, changes related to the overwintering area were observed, and in such cases the distance between overwintering sites on two consecutive seasons could exceed 2 km. These results can support an efficient conservation strategy of the turtle population.