Western Chicken Turtle Sample Clauses

Western Chicken Turtle. Turtles of the United States and Canada (Xxxxx and Xxxxxx, 2009) describes the Western Chicken Turtle as summarized below: The skin of the Western Chicken Turtle is olive to brown with yellow lines extending from the head across the neck, from the shoulder to the feet and vertically on the rump. The long narrow head comes to a point at the beak. The Western Chicken Turtle received its common name from its long head and neck, which tends to be as long as the [underside of the shell]. This species also exhibits sexual dimorphism with the female being larger than males. The egg-shaped carapace is rough textured and tends to be olive to brown in color. Adults primarily feed on plants, aquatic insects and crayfish. The Western Chicken Turtle is a cryptic species and little is known about its behavior throughout the year. Western Chicken Turtles spend extended amounts of time estivating (a form of dormancy similar to hibernation) in upland areas (XxXxxxxx and Day, 2020), making standard survey methodologies less effective. Rivers and streams are not preferred habitat for this species, which tends to occupy lentic systems such as ephemeral wetlands, swamps, and ponds although oxbows and marginal wetland areas may be utilized to some extent (personal communication, Xxxxxxx Xxxxxx, Texas A&M University). The Western Chicken Turtle is considered rare and declining throughout its range although no range-wide population surveys have been conducted. Uncertainty regarding population status and perceived threats to habitat convinced the USFWS to consider ESA protections (Xxxxxx et al., 2017); the species is currently under review by the agency for potential listing. Threats to the species include habitat loss and commercial harvest to meet demand by the pet trade. The Western Chicken Turtle is a fairly mobile aquatic species, and in addition to basking on land, it frequently travels overland for a variety of activities including nesting twice per year, migration, estivation, and hibernation (Xxxxxxxx, 1995). This cryptic species spends a considerable portion of the year buried underground in a state of estivation, making it difficult to survey. The current range of the Western Chicken Turtle includes portions of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Missouri. In Texas, the Western Chicken Turtle’s historical range once comprised the entire eastern third of the state (Xxxxx, 2013); its current status is largely unknown.