Gisclair seeks safety, dredging bills in House
May 13, 2014OUR VIEW: Area is brimming with young talent
May 13, 2014
As turtles begin showing themselves now that summer is close, a lot of local people aren’t asking a lot of questions about their family trees.
But scientists from Dartmouth College and other institutions have long sought definitive answers to where and how turtles emerged on the evolutionary scale, and a new study suggests the knowledge base is increasing.
Their findings weigh favorably on one side of an old debate, suggesting turtles are more closely related to birds than lizards or snakes.
That would also, the research says, make them more aligned with crocodiles and alligators, which also have birds in their backgrounds.
The study appears in the journal “Evolution and Development,” a component of research into how 20,000 living reptile or amphibian species relate to each other.
Turtles are more closely related, the study finds, to archosaurs, a group which includes extinct dinosaurs.
Teeth set in sockets, certain unique bone characteristics and other features shared by modern birds and alligators along with most of the dinosaurs are also common to turtles, the study finds.
Snakes and lizards, on the other hand, are more akin to lepidosaurs, sharing features such as overlapping scales.
The determination, bolstered by DNA testing and other scientific procedures, is news to LSU herpetologist, Jeff Boundy.
But Boundy stays very busy keeping track of currently living turtles – along with snakes and other reptiles – rather than concerning himself with whom they share a common ancestor.
Whatever their lineage, Bundy said last week, turtles in Louisiana are doing quite well.
“We recently completed a study,” he said last week. “We compared studies from 2006, 2012 and 2013. Some populations went up and some went down and some went up again. There are plenty of turtles out there.”
Plans for cooking sauce courbillion, soups or for keeping a few turtles as pets are therefore unencumbered
But Boundy and other officials note that to remove a turtle from the wild for any purpose, a state fishing license is required.
Boundy also has advice for those wishing to aid turtles seemingly stranded or in danger.
If you see a turtle crossing the road and pick it up, the better good deed is to place it out of harm’s way right close by to where it is discovered.
Often such wandering turtles, Boundy said, are females looking to lay eggs. And they are highly territorial.
“If you drop that turtle off eight miles away, the turtle will turn around, face the direction it came from and start marching,” he said.
A trio of turtles catch some sun in the south Louisiana swamp. According to a Darmouth College report, turtles are more closely related to birds than lizards or snakes.
