Last week was a very busy week at the
centre, bringing our biggest ever recorded terrapin! This huge female was
spotted next to the road by Lea and I on the way to dinner and weighed in at a
massive 1483g. At 24.6cm long she now holds the record for the largest terrapin
caught in our database. She is a Yellow Bellied Terrapin, which are known to
be larger than the Black Mud Terrapins and are caught much less often on our
reserve. After bringing her back to the centre we discovered that she was
pregnant, on the X-ray you can just make out around 26 eggs! Once we had taken all
of her measurements she was released back into the wetland where she had been
found, and immediately burrowed under the leaf litter and mud. After a lot of
thought I decided to name her Esio Trot after the character in the Rahl Dahl
story. Yellow Bellied terrapins are known to search for high ground to lay
their eggs and she was spotted again on Monday evening near the road, so it’s
likely she is looking for somewhere to lay.
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| Esio Trot ....full of eggs |
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| Lea & Holly with their finding! |
As well as Esio Trot we have also had
several captures in the traps, with one trap even containing two terrapins at
once! One was a first timer who Jonny named Godine, the other 3 were all
recaptures. We have also been continuing our work with the Seychelles Sheath
Tailed Bat and have had some bat experts in at the Banyan Tree to assist with
the surveillance of bats along possible foraging corridors, still no sign yet. This
coming week we are going to begin surveying the reef off of Anse Intendance
beach to collect data on fish and coral species presence, so we are all
brushing up on our fish ID skills! More updates to come.....
