Meeting Abstract

119.2  Monday, Jan. 7  Rocky Raccoon Must Die: Nest Predation Patterns in a Population of Reintroduced Alligator Snapping Turtles THOMPSON, D. M.*; LIGON , D. B.; Missouri State University; Missouri State University denise.thompson17@gmail.com

Predation of turtle nests is the primary cause of egg mortality and can be as high as 100% in some populations. In North America, raccoons (Procyon lotor) are significant predators of turtle nests; however, the importance of different sensory cues to nest detection and predation by raccoons has not been investigated. We experimentally tested the importance of visual and olfactory cues by measuring raccoons’ response to artificially constructed nests composed of: a) visual cues alone; b) olfactory cues alone; c) both visual and olfactory cues; and d) controls with no sensory cues. Research was conducted in southern Oklahoma at Tishomingo National Wildlife Refuge at ponds containing reintroduced alligator snapping turtles (Macrochelys temminckii). Artificial alligator snapping turtle nests were created to represent the three aforementioned nest treatments. A total of 16 trials were run from 2–27 June, 2011 and monitored with time-lapse, infrared game cameras. Initial raccoon detection of nests in each trial resulted in 9 (56%) of the 16 visitations occurring at the visual treatment, 7 (44%) at the visual-olfactory treatment, and none occurring at the olfactory or control treatments. Similarly, predation events were evenly distributed between visual and visual-olfactory treatments, with each being the first to be predated 7 times, while olfactory nests were the first nest predated only once. In 85% of trials the olfactory nest was the last nest to be predated, and on one occasion was not predated at all for an entire 3-day trial. We conclude that visual cues play a far more important role in raccoon detection and predation of alligator snapping turtle nests than do olfactory cues.