Saint Louis Zoo Herpetarium Internship Summer 2013: Day 6: Turtle Mania!

This morning I was sent off with the task of cleaning the giant tortoise exhibit by myself!! I was able to scoop up most of the salad, but of course some tortoises were being difficult and decided to lay right on top of a salad clump and not move. I tried rubbing their neck, I tried spraying some water on the floor near them, but they would not move. On top of that, one of them decided to lay on the hose again. So cleaning took a while. Regardless, it was still fun because I got to give them a little attention and simply because I was surrounded by giant tortoises! Mid morning we had two tour groups come through of teen volunteers at the zoo. Everyone got three carrots to feed the tortoises and that finally got the few stubborn ones to move. It was fun seeing the tour guests interact with the tortoises. It was because of this tour last summer that got me the connections for this internship. There is a Galapagos tortoise, some Aldabra tortoises, and some Yellow-Foot tortoises. Between cleaning and the tours, I spent most of the morning with the giant tortoises! I'm not complaining! After that I learned how to clean tanks for baby McCord's Box Turtles :) One was newly hatched and was so small and adorable! McCord's Box Turtles are virtually extinct in the wild. Actually, their natural location in the wild was unknown until fairly recently. All records of them previously was from seeing them in the pet trade in Asia. When a survey was done in China only one turtle was found. So the survival of the species is now solely dependent on zoos and their breeding programs. It is really unfortunate how so many animals are exploited in the pet trade or killed for some body part. These animals share the world with us and need to be respected more.

After lunch, I helped change water bowls for some lizards. I was told that I should avoid one of them because she was a little feisty. I looked into the cage and when she saw me, she put up the frill of skin around her neck and hissed. I understand why I was told to not worry about her water bowl. I also helped to give some desert tortoises a soaking. Even though desert tortoises are adapted to a dry environment, they still need water and moisture to survive. Putting them in a shallow amount of water gives them some moisture, an opportunity to drink, and it even stimulates excretion. Most of the tortoises were Pancake Tortoises which are naturally found in Tanzania and Kenya. Unlike other tortoises, Pancake Tortoises have a different bone structure so their plastron (lower shell) is slightly flexible. When I was picking them up I could actually feel a slight bend of the shell. The flexibility allows them to press themselves between rocks to hide. Their carapace (upper shell) is suppose to be smooth but some of them had more of a bumpy carapace. I learned that the shell growth is determine by the humidity, moisture, and other environmental factors. The zoo keeper that was training me went to go take care of other things and let me finish going through the tortoises and letting them soak. It was a cool feeling to be left in charge of handling and caring for the animals again.

When I was done I was looking for one of the main zoo keepers to find out what I could do next, but they must have been in another part of the building, so I decided to take care of the dishes. After taking the afternoon break, I learned how to clean spotted turtle tanks. (Spotted turtles are also super cute!). Once the tanks were clean, the zoo keeper I was with had me watch while he candled a turtle egg. The egg was laid May 1, so the little turtle was still a small red blob. It was amazing that you could see where the head was, an eye, what would turn into the shell, and the main blood vessel that attaches to the yolk. Unfortunately, when looking at an egg from another species you could tell that the egg was already starting to decompose. Most turtle eggs are temperature dependent for the gender. As the saying goes "hot chicks and cool dudes". So the hotter the temperature, the more females; the cooler the temperature, the more males. In captive incubation, you have total control over which gender the egg will be. So the healthy egg was set at 80 degrees, meaning that for that species it will be a male. Every turtle species has different temperature parameters for the genders, depending mainly on geographic location because of different climates. What might be a perfect temperature for one type of turtle might 'cook' a different turtle egg. Interestingly enough, soft shell turtles actually have genetic determination of genders. With a little bit of time left at the end of the day and a few extra carrots from the tortoise tours, we decided to see if some of the other turtles and larger lizards would go for some carrots. One of the lizards had some interest but the other ones seemed unenthused.

I definitely learned a lot today and of course, I loved spending the day surrounded by turtles and tortoises!