In May 2006, the Georgia Sea Turtle Center and its collaborators started to develop a conservation plan for diamondback terrapins. To compensate partially for the loss of females killed by automobiles, we nurse injured terrapins back to health and collect eggs from turtles killed by motor vehicles. We then incubate the eggs, hatch them, raise the young terrapins to a size deemed less likely to be predated upon (approximately 9 months) and then release them back into their natural habitat. Now that we have the facilities in place, we will be able to conduct most of this work at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center. Our visitors will be able to see this program in action through our educational displays, various interactive education programs and by watching our veterinary staff care for the turtles.

We will also be learning more about the terrapins’ basic reproductive biology by documenting clutch size, egg size, hatching success rates, hatchling size and growth rates. Additionally, we are looking into the health of our terrapin population in Georgia by conducting autopsies on dead terrapins found on the road and by taking samples from live turtles captured in seine nets and then released.