ROADS ARE FLAT-OUT dangerous for turtles, but a study of Ottawa’s suburban routes suggests a silver lining for life near the fast lane. For painted turtles laying eggs along roadsides, more traffic means fewer predators, fewer attacks on nests, and better egg survival.
“Roadkill is a major issue for turtles…but predators are also negatively affected by roads,” says Rowan Murphy, who tracked the interplay of turtles, traffic, and predators for her Master’s degree in biology at Carleton University in Ottawa. She found that the whoosh of cars is scaring egg-napping skunks, foxes, and raccoons away from turtle nests, and improved hatchling survival could compensate for adult roadkills.
Testing the concept in 2019, Murphy packed 2,400 quail eggs into 600 ersatz “nests” and distributed them in natural areas and roadsides on the outskirts…
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Cottage Life (Digital) - 1 Issue, September/October 2023