NICEVILLE— At a couple spots he passes on his way to work, Fort Walton Beach resident Mladen Rudman recently has seen more than his share of, not chickens, but turtles crossing the road.
Of course, he’s wondered why.
In all likelihood, they’re female turtles on the move from the ponds and creeks where they live to woodland destinations where they will lay their eggs, or on their return trip.
“Turtles, especially aquatic turtles, will lay eggs hundreds of feet, even hundreds of yards from water. And if there’s a road they will cross it,” said Phillip Heise. “I don’t know why the females get in their minds to travel up into the woods to lay their eggs.”
Heise is a professor of biology at Northwest Florida State College in Niceville. His job site happens to be close to College Boulevard between a couple small ponds where Rudman said he has seen about a dozen turtles crossing the street.
Heise has identified 26 species of turtles that call Okaloosa, Santa Rosa and Walton counties home. Of those, about 20 would be considered aquatic turtles such as snapping turtles, softshell turtles, cooters and sliders.
Box turtles also are commonly seen crossing the street, he said.
Female turtles are very good at storing sperm collected during a springtime mating, and thus may make the trip from the water to the woods three to four times in a single summer, Heise said.
“They’ll lay a clutch of eggs, head back to the water to regain their strength and head out again,” he said.
When they find a place that suits them, the females do what their seafaring relatives do and scratch a hole in the soil to deposit their eggs.
The trouble for turtles crossing local roads, it should go without saying, is that they can get run over. One study conducted fairly recently even indicated there is a segment of the human population craven enough to veer toward instead of away from a slow moving turtle in the road.
“There are always jerks out there doing things like that,” said Heise, who said he was aware of the study.
Heise bears scars from encounters with turtles he has stopped to help make it from one side of the road to another.
“All turtles will bite,” he said. “I’ve been bitten by box turtles, pond turtles and snapping turtles. They don’t know you’re trying to rescue them.”
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Tom McLaughlin at 850-315-4435 or tmclaughlin@nwfdailynews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomMnwfdn.
