Baby terrapins have a better memory than you think
Terrapins are an exquisite species; they can live underwater and on the ground. The interesting thing to note here is that the adult terrapins are comfortable with the sea's salty waters. You see, not many animals can survive the salinity levels, yet these terrapins become used to the salinity levels of the seawater.
The baby terrapins, when born, need to enter the seawater quickly, and they also need to learn to service that level of salt in the water. The good and interesting thing found in research recently is that due to their sharp memory, they can remember where they can find freshwater. Because of their need to find fresh water, they can locate it quickly.
Once they have located the fresh waters, these terrapins have to find their way to it. This is where their strong memory plays a role. As they can easily maneuver through the tides and find the freshwater they were looking for.
The Correlation between stress and freshwater:
As can be noted, the terrapins need fresh water to survive. Due to the high salinity water, it often becomes stressful for the terrapins to relax and eat. Studies show many behavioral changes if they are unable to find freshwater.
In a case where the terrapins are unable to locate freshwater, they exhibit psychological markers of stress. This stress of being unable to find freshwater causes them to deprive themselves of food and grow slower. Turtles need low salinity water, and this raises due to the rising levels of water.
To keep these turtles alive, there must be a salinity level achieved in the water that they can survive in. Because when these turtles become stressed, they stop growing and stop eating; this is a massive reason for high mortality rates.
Conclusion:
The learnings from various studies about the behaviors of terrapins need to be taken into account for the survival of this species. If these signs and studies are not taken seriously, we may end up losing another very rare and interesting species due to our negligence.
