Turtle shells may be heavy too a turtle. Is that why sea turtles turned to inhabit the sea? Or did ancestral sea turtles inhabit the oceans before turtles invaded the land? Skeletal remains of gigantic sea turtles belie that size can expand without consequence as the turtle in the sea weighs less than on land, and thus the mobile home let alone trailer is less a burden in terms of sheer weight in the oceans, rivers, streams, and lakes.

 

Where did the original turtle turn up, so known for carrying its armored shield on its back ?

 

Thanks to a fossil recovered in Africa, scant records suggest turtles (genus Eunotosaurus) were among the first reptiles with a notable carapace to arise as far back in geological time as the Permian Epoch, approximately 260 million years ago. Browse Wikipedia and Britannica.com to learn more about ancestral sea and land turtles.

 

The most armored fresh water turtle alive today is the snapping turtle Chelydra, with its raised central sharp scutes suggesting a carryover from ancestral origins — knowing how painful is its bite — ushering a clear path to survival. My illustration that resembles Chelydra appears in The Cousteau Almanac 1981 in response to the request to depict a hypothetical ancestor to the six living species. 

 

In contrast, the earliest known fossil of fresh-water turtles is the soft shell Triornyx, with a very smooth carapace, also capable of a very savage bite. The largest known turtle fossil is a huge sea turtle (Ardhelon ischyros) dating to late Cretaceous obtaining more than 12 feet in length!

 

I recall my brother Bjorn gave us a savory eco-note, that when he motored out to observe fish caught in a weir net off Cold Storage Beach, North Truro. He found a leatherback turtle paddling along at the surface that measured longer than his dingy, and that would exceed 11 feet! Find gratitude that more careful and painstaking research is published in Wikipedia and on Google. No doubt the Center for Coastal Studies, the Boston Aquarium, the Center for Marine Life in Wareham, and Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary have much data and sightings to relate thousands of sea turtle strandings and impressive results to rehab them. 

 

Fishermen, too, from the draggers and charter boats eagerly share their encounters. Although much data has accumulated since its publication in 1976, "The Great Reptile," according James D. Lazell in his key forerunner book "This Broken Archipelago," recounts his amazement at learning so much about this frequent jellyfish hunter to Cape Cod waters, and our collective need to preserve their progressive turns in evolutionary biology.

 

When I lived in Truro some years ago it was my birthday, Nov. 21, and I felt it compelling to walk the shallows at ebb tide between the sand bars, and sure enough I found a stranded Kemp's ridley turtle, poised motionless and obviously chilled by the cooling seas in November.

 

Cradling the lifeless turtle, I brought it ashore and soon called the rescue service that sent a representative to take the deceased into rehab. I am reminded that the northward flow of the prevailing Gulf Stream is not so kind to its top predators in their search for edible nekton, in that the pinwheeling gyres and swirling currents carry them into Cape Cod Bay without a return ticket to escape the cold of advancing autumn.

 

Resident fresh-water turtles must have evolved a means to withstand the cold often frigid temperatures of long winters including box, painted and sliders, and spotted turtles as well.

 

They may be fossorial, or burrowing into mud or seeking sanctuary in windless leaves or places where wind chill is less likely. Enjoy your inquiry into how did they evolve an "antifreeze" to avert death due to cold. Of all things to avert predation, box turtles have evolved a hinge plastron or plated door than can closed after the turtle retracts head and limbs into safety. A well-deserved fascination invites admiration, and we can marvel at the innate ingenuity possessed by turtles. Their legs and paws are armored to such a degree that stout scales and scutes can discourage the hungry raccoon and skunk, the bobcat and bear.

 

Turtles will cross highways and byways to get to the other side, responding to the inborn urge to follow a given direction to reproductive sites, as evident in their migratory pathways. One day on Cape Cod, I was driving Route 6 into Provincetown, when I noticed a painted turtle poised on the road's shoulder. I pulled over and hastened to intercede before it would trudge into oblivion. I stood beside it and noticed it peering at a distant oncoming vehicle. Soon the car swept by, and just after the car passed, the turtle scampered like crazy across the highway and reached the far side, following its inkling to submerge in an ancient kettle pond. 

 

Painteds love basking on logs, and think nothing of crowing on board as space limits! Turtles complement their environs, and show us that out of a cornucopia of plenty and ingenuity, they give us inspiration to wonder about their perseverance no matter how slow they can be. When my Hansen family moved into a new house in Englewood, N.J., in 1952, we liked to tend the garden complete with two tall bushy lilacs standing like sentinels over the rows of peonies and poppies. Parked between them was one box turtle (Terrapene carolina), that showed no hurried motive to escape.

 

When I moved into a neglected apartment made of desert stone in a run-down guest ranch out in the Sonoran desert outside Tucson, Ariz., surrounded with mesquite and saguaros, a desert tortoise was there resting on the front-door mat in the shade, as if to greet me to a choice well taken. I doubt it wanted in, and I saw it trundle off on its own wheels, exploring its hot native habitat. If I had provided a doormat with "welcome" invested in it, would that call for a tortoise to return for hospitality and definite shade? A tortoise is always welcome at my doorstep!

 

When I was out in the Province Lands dunes searching for hidden glories of spring, I happened upon a large cluster of pink moccasin orchids in full bloom. Also present in the groundswell of awakening spring was a box turtle that remained still at my approach. The bold yellow splotching on its carapace suggested a banner recognition of sovereign awareness, and declaration of belonging. This humble wonder work retracted somewhat into its protective castle; I crouched in front and inched forward on my belly to get a close up portrait as best my XTi Canon lens could provide, when I noticed some movement along the outer edge of its carapace. 

 

As it moved along its silken thread I realized it is a small spider, and over a few minutes I saw it spin a tiny web, setting up shop to catch little insects that could venture close to the mouth of the silent host! Search my photos that reveal its true identity. Was it here to ward off unwanted visitors, or claim nourishment from unsuspecting prey drawn to scent and chemicals in the turtles catch, be it berry or earthworm? Yes, linger longer to observe firsthand the intricate components of nature's web of life supporting ramifications that belong!

 

Turning to geo-political matters of state, we can peruse the Massachusetts flag long controversial to citizens and Native Americans. A turtle has long been at the heart of Amerindian creation myths, about origins of the Indian peoples, indeed arising on a continent figuratively on the back of a giant turtle. The Lene-Lenapi of New Jersey hold this belief, and certain New England tribes as well. No doubt they share a reverence for turtles. 

 

The flag features the flexed arm and sword of a soldier known to protect the populace and the growing sovereign state as colonial times progressed. The late John Peters, or Slow Turtle, a spokesman for the Mashpee Wampanoags, objected to the swordsman placed threateningly above the native on the flag who, with his bow and arrow touching the ground, shows a known symbol of peace. Many foresee a much-needed metamorphosis to remove or rearrange the sword and keep the native so much a vital part of the Pilgrims surviving their first cold winter. May it be so, so that a flag with new design represents all parties be acknowledged to live in peace and harmony, so that preservation prevails, thanks to Slow Turtle.