Europe versus the United States (a turtle confrontation)

I just came across this fascinating article about turtles and tadpoles on a website called Wired Science. At first I thought it was "Weird" Science, which might have been a better title given the story! It turns out that various turtle species appear to emit a scent or taste that tadpoles pick up and provide them with a warning that danger is lurking. When they get this signal that one of their natural predators is swimming with them, the tadpoles stop moving about as much, thus reducing the chance that they will be eaten by the turtle. This works out just fine for the tadpoles, as long as no foreign (in this American) turtle happens to be invading their territory. The tadpoles don't seem to get the same alarm signal from the scent of these foreign species -- and as a result they don't slow down and get eaten.


You learn something new every day! Another neat thing about this article is that it contains two great photos of some very colorful turtles.

Visit Turtle Treasures for more fun turtle facts!