NEW YORK, May 10 (UPI) -- North America's smallest turtle species, less than 5 inches long, is disappearing as a result of high mortality rates in its natural habitats, researchers say.
Wildlife managers working in a few habitats of the diminutive bog turtle in the U.S. Northeast have reported higher-than-average mortality rates for these threatened reptiles in the past few years, a Wildlife Conservation Society release said Tuesday.
WCS veterinarians, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the Massachusetts Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program are engaged in a health assessment of the turtles, which seldom weigh more than a few ounces.
"We're conducting a broad screening in order to identify a cause or causes for the increase in bog turtle deaths," Bonnie Raphael, WCS's department head for wildlife medicine, said. "This information will be used to help determine if these recent losses are attributable to infectious disease, environmental perturbations, or other factors."
Bog turtles are currently protected on state, national and international levels as the number of known habitats for the threatened northern population of the species -- which has a patchy distribution reaching from Massachusetts to Maryland -- is shrinking.
