The "Endangered Tiny Bog Turtle" Story

Area in the US where the Bog Turtle is found.

It was an ordinary day.  "Googling" the bog turtle to find out if what I had just read was really true.  Seems that the Federal Government has just paid a Berks County, PA developer $1.3 million to NOT build 300 homes on a 102-acre area in northern Lancaster County.  The developer is selling a permanent easement for the land so that the tiny turtles can spend their life burrowed into the mud of the damp, grassy fields along the edge of Adamstown and East Cocalico Township.  The turtle, that can live for up to 80 years, was discovered by self-taught botanist and clergyman Gotthilf Heinrich Ernst Muhlenberg who was from Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  

Photo of the little Bog Turtle.

Seems he was conducting a survey of the flora of Lancaster County when he discovered the tiny turtle in the 18th century.  In 1801 Johann David Schoepff named Muhlenberg's discovery Testudo muhlengergii.  Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA, named after Mr. Muhlenberg, has a bronze turtle statue on campus.  The bog turtle is the smallest North American turtle that measures slightly less than four ounces long when fully grown.  It is listed on the threatened list at the federal level and therefore protected under the United States' Endangered Species Act.  It is considered threatened in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania as of November 4, 1997.  Invasive plants and urban development have eliminated the turtle's habitat.  

Photo by George Gress showing the environment
in northern Lancaster County were the bog turtle
can be found.

The turtle has a low reproduction rate with females laying about three eggs a year.  It has a dark skin color with an orange-red wash on the inside of the legs of some of them.  I read that the bog turtle is what is known as diurnal which means it is active during the day and sleeps at night.  Wakes in early morning, basks in the sun until fully warm, then begins its search for food.  In colder days the turtle will retreat to dense underbrush, underwater or bury in mud.  It has the ability to survive without oxygen.  It hibernates in small groups in dense soil or root systems from late September until late March or early April.  The Berks County developer is more than willing to take the $1.3 million in order to preserve the bog turtle's environment.  Think I might be also. Hey, we are all paying this guy not to build, so I guess we are essentially conservationists. Bravo to all of you!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.