{"id":9874,"date":"2021-05-13T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-13T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lafayettepark.org\/staging_5\/?p=9874"},"modified":"2021-09-07T00:11:02","modified_gmt":"2021-09-07T00:11:02","slug":"shell-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lafayettepark.org\/staging_5\/shell-game\/","title":{"rendered":"SHELL GAME"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY\u00a0KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n

Sometimes you just need to shut out the world for a while, you know?<\/h4>\n

If you can\u2019t relate, I know the Eastern Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina<\/em>) certainly can. Whether the threat is carnivores or a demanding career or even an infinite to-do list, there are times when nothing beats a little self-imposed me-time.<\/h4>\n

Carrying your very own personal isolation chamber right on your back means sensory deprivation can be achieved in mere seconds. No need to call ahead for an appointment at the local day spa. Don\u2019t bother dimming the lights, closing the blinds, and turning off your cell phone. Just pull in your extremities, slam your hinged shell shut, and \u2014 just like magic \u2014 instant privacy!<\/h4>\n

\"\"Is it any coincidence that Box Turtles are one of our longest-lived species, with well-documented cases of individuals reaching the half-century mark and beyond? Stress reductions, in the form of a room of one\u2019s own, may well be the key to attaining a ripe old age.<\/h4>\n

We shouldn\u2019t dismiss the importance of wise food choices either\u2014lots of lean protein, in the form of earthworms, snails, slugs, and insects, as well as fruits and veggies such as berries, grasses, and flowers.\u00a0 Turtles have another favorite food that may contribute to overall longevity\u2014they\u2019ve been known to consume poisonous fungi, causing anyone who dines on their flesh to sicken, or worse.<\/h4>\n

Of course, someone has to kill and eat said turtle, and suffer the consequences, to learn this lesson so it might not appear to offer much of a survival benefit\u2026 unless you consider it from the standpoint of the population rather than the individual. See, all it takes is one or two bad meals and, ever after, turtles become a much less appealing meal for that particular consumer and his or her community. The technical term is adverse conditioning<\/em>\u2014that\u2019s a polite way of saying animals (both human and non-human) tend not to keep eating things that make us sick.<\/h4>\n

\"\"Now, it\u2019s unlikely that turtles have any particular strategy in mind when eating wild mushrooms. Then again\u2026 certain \u201cmagical\u201d fungi have been credited with providing, among other things, an increased sense of well-being and decreased anxiety levels. Perhaps they are self-medicating with the Terrapene<\/em> equivalent of Xanax\u00ae<\/sup>.<\/h4>\n

One of six subspecies of the Common Box Turtle (T. carolina<\/em>), the Eastern, like all its kin, has a highly domed carapace<\/em> (the upper portion of the shell) and a hinged plastron<\/em> (the lower half of the shell). What sets each subspecies apart is distribution and habitat, as well as certain physical characteristics.\u00a0 T.c. carolina<\/em>, found from southern Maine to southern Florida and as far west as central Texas, is known for colorful keeled carpaces that feature diverse combinations of spots, bars, and radiating lines.<\/h4>\n

Color provides a clue to more than a box turtle\u2019s species. It can also help us determine the gender of that lurching, resolute reptile we stop to help cross the street.\u00a0 If the eyes (irises) are bright orange or red, you\u2019re holding a male; females have brown or light orange eyes. What if, in response to your good deed, the turtle has gone into hiding, making eye contact a moot point? Simply turn the creature over; females have a flat plastron, male plastrons are slightly concave. (Think about it. Birds do it, bees do it\u2026).<\/h4>\n

\"\"The hinged plastron is what caused taxonomists to create a separate genus for North America\u2019s box-top reptiles, and what allows the Eastern and it\u2019s relatives to retreat into a kind of biological fortress.\u00a0 And for most of their history, this survival strategy worked quite well\u2014against coyotes, raccoons, and skunks, that is.\u00a0 Sadly, it doesn\u2019t provide the same level of protection from every threat.<\/h4>\n

Box Turtles are still relatively common throughout much of their range, but not even the most tightly closed shell can shield this species from the impacts of habitat loss and other interactions with Homo sapiens<\/em>. These are slow moving, slow growing creatures with delayed sexual maturity and low reproduction rates, all of which puts them at risk. A female may produce hundreds of eggs during her lifetime, but less than a dozen offspring can be expected to survive to adulthood. It\u2019s hard to even begin to estimate how many turtles are hit attempting to cross roads every year, and there are plenty of other hazard against which withdrawing into your shell is of little use\u2014trains, lawn mowers, tractors, and bulldozers, to name but a few. Then there\u2019s the capture of turtles for the pet trade. In many states, this practice is completely unregulated, with devastating impacts on wild populations.<\/h4>\n

Even so, there are times when coming out of your shell is the better choice. Especially for people. Solitary confinement is used as a punishment because, unlike turtles, humans are social creatures. We need companionship, conversation, to touch and be touched. Hard to get any of those needs met when you retreat to your personal he- or she-cave.<\/h4>\n

Unless, of course, you invite someone to join you there.<\/h4>\n

\"\"<\/h4>\n
\n

\u00a9 2011 Next-Door Nature\u2014 no reprints without written permission from the author. Thanks to Alan Howell \u00a9 Star Path Images for permission to used\u00a0 his work, and to the following photographers for making their work available through Creative Commons License: Danielle Brigida<\/span><\/a>, Lisa Brown<\/span><\/a>, Conserve Wildlife Foundation<\/span><\/a>, and Shelly<\/span><\/a>. <\/em><\/h4>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/h4>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/h4>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY\u00a0KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD Sometimes you just need to shut out the world for a while, you know? If you can\u2019t relate, I know the Eastern Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":9875,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"

BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, we\u2019re twenty years into the Information Age so I\u2019m pretty sure everyone in this courtroom knows that, to quote a famous New Yorker <\/em>cartoon, \u201cOn the Internet, nobody knows you\u2019re a dog.\u201d The anonymity baked into the the interwebs means we\u2019re all free to be whatever, or whomever, we want to virtually be\u2026 even if we want to be someone else.<\/h4>\n

Identity theft may seem like a new and viral meme, but I assure you, creating a counterfeit profile is a prehistoric trope. It\u2019s older than Dick Whitman snagging Don Draper\u2019s dog tag in Mad Men (2007).  Older than Mrs. Doubtfire\u2019s dad-turned-nanny (1993). Older than the King of Ruritania\u2019s body-double in The Prisoner of Zenda (1894). Older, even, than the sibling-switch of Esau and Jacob in the Book of Genesis (6th century BC).<\/h4>\n

No, we need to travel even further back in time\u2014way, way back\u2014to the Pennsylvanian epoch over 300 million years ago, and what must surely be the first, the most diabolically devious, the most indelible stolen guise in the entire history of Planet Earth.<\/h4>\n

I intend to demonstrate, beyond any doubt (reasonable or otherwise), that the defendant\u2014Armadillidium vulgare<\/em>, aka \u201cpillbug\u201d\u2014is an imposter!<\/h4>\n
\"\"You already know he\u2019s a shape-shifter. Thanks to a body composed of overlapping plates he\u2019s a skilled conglobator\u2014transforming at a moment\u2019s notice from a scurrying, nearly two-dimensional, thumbnail-sized oval into an almost perfectly symmetrical 3D sphere. This is no parlor game, folks.  Crumpling to the size of a baby aspirin is a prescription for prevention of detection by those who would expose his true nature. (It also limits dehydration, but I digress).<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Don\u2019t be fooled by this roly-poly fellow\u2019s non-threatening demeanor and diminutive stature. His rap sheet is a phone directory\u2019s worth of aliases: pillbug, wood bug, pea bug, potato bug, and doodlebug, to name only a few\u2026 but he is NOT a bug.<\/div>\n

That\u2019s right, this armored charlatan may claim to be kin to bedbugs, ladybugs, mealybugs, spittle bugs, stinkbugs, and other insects whose identities he has appropriated, but take a closer look and even without a DNA analysis the evidence is indisputable.<\/h4>\n

Exhibit #1:<\/strong>  Insects have a single pair of antennae. If the defendant would untuck enough to show his face to members of the jury, you would see that he has not one, but TWO pair of antennae.<\/h4>\n

Exhibit #2:<\/strong>  Insects have 3 pairs of jointed legs, clustered on the thorax. The defendant has 7 pairs of jointed legs\u2014one pair for each of the 7 segments that constitute his torso. But don\u2019t take my word for it\u2014count them yourselves.<\/h4>\n

\"\"Exhibit #3:<\/strong> As adults, insects breathe using a system of apertures and tubes called spiracles and tracheae, respectively. The defendant\u2014who, while not aquatic is clearly in some legal hot water here\u2014breathes using gill-like structures.<\/h4>\n

Exhibit #4: <\/strong> True bugs have piercing and sucking mouth-parts that place them in an insect league of their own. The defendant has no such anatomical features.  Just look\u2014he\u2019s not even able to use a straw!<\/h4>\n

Exhibit  #5:<\/strong>  Speaking of drinking\u2026 insect have a waxy, water-resistant epicuticle that deters desiccation. The defendant does not, which leads me to wonder if his repeated requests for a glass of water are due to the dry air in this courtroom, or a case of nerves born of a guilty conscience?<\/h4>\n

Exhibit #6:<\/strong> No courtroom drama would be complete without a reference to sex so let\u2019s talk about reproduction. Insects employ a diverse set of parenting strategies, including: oviparity<\/em> (eggs are deposited and develop outside the female\u2019s body); ovoviparity<\/em> (eggs develop inside the female\u2019s body and hatch immediately after being laid); and even viviparity<\/em> (young gestate inside the female and are born, not hatched). But the one strategy insects do NOT use is the marsupium<\/em>. That\u2019s right, a pouch tucked under the thorax in which newly hatched young develop until they are old enough to venture out into the world on their own\u2026 a pouch just like the one you would find on the defendant\u2019s own mother!<\/h4>\n

Members of the jury, the facts speak for themselves. The phony before you is not a bug. He has far more in common with a shrimp, a crab, or a lobster than any insect. Literally. Because this common pillbug is, in reality\u2026<\/h4>\n

\u2026a terrestrial CRUSTACEAN!!<\/em><\/h4>\n

[Audible gasps from the courtroom audience]<\/em><\/h4>\n

Your Honor, the prosecution rests.<\/h4>\n
\"\"<\/div>\n\n
\n\n

\u00a9 2010 <\/em>Next-Door Nature. Thanks to the photographers who granted permission to use their photos, and to those who made their work available through the Creative Commons license: Alan Howell<\/a><\/span>, Andy Purviance<\/a><\/span>, Brian Gratwicke<\/a><\/span>, and Dany Sternfeld<\/a><\/span>.<\/em><\/h4>","_et_gb_content_width":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":0,"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[426,16],"tags":[59,18,25,470,462,463,43,9,12,461,32,464,116,14,15,17],"class_list":["post-9874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reptiles","category-wildlife","tag-animal-behavior","tag-backyard-wildlife","tag-biology","tag-box-turtle","tag-common-box-turtle","tag-eastern-box-turtle","tag-hidden-wildlife","tag-lafayette-park","tag-nature","tag-reptile","tag-suburban-wildlife","tag-terrapene-carolina-carolina","tag-turtle","tag-urban-wildlife","tag-watchable-wildlife","tag-wildlife"],"yoast_head":"\nSHELL GAME - Lafayette Park Conservancy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lafayettepark.org\/staging_5\/shell-game\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SHELL GAME - Lafayette Park Conservancy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"BY\u00a0KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD Sometimes you just need to shut out the world for a while, you know? 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