Swimming with Salamanders and Western Painted Turtles

although it is close to the Lower Mainland, the Sunshine Coast remains a unique and in many ways uncharted area, full of surprises to anyone who wants to see and spend a bit of time here. I was yet again forcefully reminded of this over the past few weeks when, while working on a couple of projects I have, we encountered surprise after surprise and found ourselves swimming with hordes of salamanders and Western Painted Turtles, day in day out, rain or shine, in various locations, while observing their behaviour and interaction with each other. Not with us; we were careful not to interfere and as a rule they were largely oblivious, or at least entirely ignored, our presence. We watched, photographed and enjoyed.

our first encounter with the salamanders was the sight of funny, rather large, bright pink fish, jumping out of the water and diving back in again all around us one evening, while we were sailing on a lake on one of the small islands here off the Sunshine Coast “mainland”. It took a little while and the fortuitous sighting of one of those fish jumping out and not immediately returning to depth, but scurrying round near the surface next to our boat, to realize that these were in fact not fish but salamanders. So we moored the boat, grabbed our snorkelling gear and investigated a bit closer. To our immense surprise and delight, we found ourselves swimming over a large bed of water plants, with hundreds of piggy-pink salamanders (the pictures cant quite capture this underwater) clinging to the leaves and stems, every now and then launching themselves vertically upwards towards the water surface for whatever reason, and then returning to the weed, clinging on and staying there until the next launch.

I am saying “for whatever reason” here because it isn’t entirely or immediately clear what they are actually doing and why. Not every launch, in fact probably only a minority of them, results in reaching the water surface or a jump out and grasping a breath of fresh air if that is what they are doing; many if not most launches return back down before the surface has ever been reached. If I tried to estimate the number of salamanders based on jumps out of the water or even just breaching the surface, it would without a doubt result in a vast underestimation of the actual numbers present.

also I would have to know absolutely positively which species I am dealing with, because that determines a lot of their habits and lifestyles, and therefore the interpretation of the numbers I am getting in any survey, and there are some real puzzles here so I won’t go into that just yet although I have my suspicions. It is not as simple as go and catch a few and have a good look and dissect if need be; salamanders are protected under the Wildlife Act here in BC which means I would need to get a special permit for a clearly and sharply defined project with, no doubt, academic resources, substantial funding which is almost impossible to come by in the current climate (unless I see fit to make a connection with climate change..) and which would without a doubt be refused if I applied for one simply based on satisfying my curiosity.

fortunately however, as always, there is more than one way to skin a cat and, as a biologist who actually enjoys working with people, the solution comes almost natural although it requires patience: there are plenty of kids in the area who without a doubt have a habit of catching them (although they shouldn’t of course but they usually release them again anyway) to satisfy their curiosity, so sooner or later I will no doubt get to have a very close look at some. In the mean time we just watch, observe, photograph, record, learn about their habits and behaviour and above all enjoy; I’ll put the pieces together once we have positively identified them, a luxury I can afford precisely because I am not driven by time limits on studies and funding and having to deliver within a set period. We share our knowledge gained and our wonderment and enjoyment with the rest of the world if and when we are ready. No sooner, no later. And in the mean time we enjoy working and interacting with people as well. Lorenz, and especially Tinbergen would not only have understood that approach; had they been alive and here they would have fought me strenuously for an opportunity like this… and done exactly the same.

it wasn’t quite the same with the turtles: no jumping out of the water, no wondering what the hell they are.. it was obvious. Western Painted Turtles (Chrysemys picta bellii), and they were everywhere we looked. On logs basking, in the water swimming and feeding at or near the bottom… impossible not to see them.

Western Painted Turtle is a decent sized freshwater turtle, up to about 25 cm in length, with a drab olive/greenish/blackish shell, the carapace, but a stunningly coloured or patterned “belly shell”, the plastron, which you can only see when you turn them over (which you really shouldn’t), when they swim overhead (which isn’t that often and I cant hold my breath for long enough), or flashes of it when they climb on or slide off a log on which they intend to or have been sunning themselves, a major part of their lifestyle  and which is therefore fortunately  often, and why they are called “painted” turtle.

although very common in Southern Canada and generally North America, the Pacific Coast population of the Western Painted Turtle is considered “endangered” which is the second highest listing (after extinct or “extirpated”) in the Species At Risk Act (SARA) here in Canada. The official 2006 assessment concluded that there are likely less than 250 adults in existence in South East BC.

well, if that is the case, on this visit we encountered at least 40 of them and know of a lot more in this and a number of other lakes here on the Sunshine Coast. The reality or likelihood is that the survey on which the assessment was based simply did not include these populations which would come as no surprise to me as BC, with the exception of the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island as well as some of the more popular and not too remote islands, is simply poorly or incompletely surveyed, so the overall situation is nowhere near as grim as was suspected.

that of course doesn’t mean that the species isn’t endangered: on the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island it certainly is, mostly due to development pressures eliminating habitat and road kill during migration to suitable nesting sites which are on land. The situation is much rosier though for the locations where we find them; not much potential, if any at all, for roads or development, and where that happens the numbers are substantial and populations thriving at the moment. And a real opportunity to study them and see “what makes them tick” to aid their continued presence and survival, because much of what we know we don’t know from the Western Painted Turtle at all, but derive or conclude from other similar turtles… like we do for so many other species in BC.

a shame it is going to be impossible to get some really substantial funding to do this though unless I can find some climate change angle… hang on… the nest temperature must be between 26^o and 30^oC, eggs incubated below 27^o result in all males (useless) and above 29^o all females (not quite as useless) and at 28^oC both males and females are produced and with climate change …. Oh my god! Do I really want to go there? That is lab-rat work… and oodles of computer modelling to get temperature predictions for 100 years in the future and population estimates and…

no, I stick at what I am best at: be there, observe, learn and above all enjoy and share the enjoyment. And in doing so further their cause as well as enrich my life and that of those around me. We’ll see what opportunities present themselves rather than go fund-hunting. Follow Niko Tinbergen’s lead as usual and that has never done me any harm so far.. quite the opposite!