Winter 2015-2016 Hibernation
These are the hibernation locations for all tracked turtles for 2015.
2015 was the warmest year on record, and November and December were especially mild with many record highs for this part of the country. The first part of January was also mild with some record highs, but also had some very cold, record breaking lows. On January 22nd, a record breaking snow storm dropped over 24 inches over 3 days but no snow fall stayed on the ground for more than a few days, and no snow pack accumulated during any part of the winter.
Turtle M25 hibernated in an old stump hole in the sheltered woods. The iButton was attached to M25's carapace, and the soil logger was buried in the same stump hole. There is a difference in temperatures between the 2 often during the winter. The soil logger was stationary, but the turtle possibly moved or changed positions occassionally.
Turtle M6 hibernated deep in an old stump hole filled with fresh and degraded old leaves. The soil temperature logger was buried in the same stump hole at about 6" deep. The iButton was attached to the turtle's carapace. There was never any snow cover on top of the leaves this winter.
Eastern Box Turtle
Terrapene carolina carolina
A Relict Population Doomed To Extinction?
