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Marine Turtle Newsletter 21:3-4, © 1982

"Turning Turtles"-Is it Safe?

Peter C.H. Pritchard
Florida Audubon Society, 1101 Audubon Way, Maitland, Florida 3275l, U.S.A.

An article by Rosskopf and Woerpelin (1982, T.E.A.M. Vo. 5, No. 5, 11- 13, Published by T.E.A.M., 3245 Military Avenue, Los Angeles, California, 90034, U.S.A.) strikes a cautionary note for some of our handling techniques for sea turtles. The article described egg yolk peritonitis in an adult female desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizi). The animal, in captivity for 45 years, rather abruptly showed progressive deterioration and death, and on autopsy was found to have several ruptured egg yolks within the coelomic cavity; yolk material had leaked into the surrounding tissues. The authors did a histopathologic analysis, and concluded that "it is our experience that egg yolk peritonitis is a common condition in many chelonian species (e.g. Gopherus agassizi, Terrapene carolina carolina, etc.) and lizards. Its cause is unknown but it is thought to be induced by trauma to the delicate developing ova. It seems to be particularly common in heavy egg-laying tortoises... The prognosis is poor because of the extremely caustic effect the foreign yolk material has on the delicate internal tissues...Clients should be advised to carefully observe all female tortoises of egg-laying age and to avoid trauma to them, especially any activity that may lead to the tortoise turning over on its back.

Many turtle researchers immobilize post-nesting females by turning them on their backs, during which time they are tagged, weighed, measured, etc. The same researchers have also often wondered why such a small percentage of the turtles return to the nesting beach in subsequent years. Doubtless this is derived in part from tag loss, natural mortality, and missed turtles, but the possibility should be considered that some may suffer rupture of some of the yolks that will form the season's subsequent eggs, as a consequence of the combination of the turtle's struggles and the completely unnatural pressures within the viscera under such circumstances. This may result either in the turtle undergoing ovarian or oviducal damage of sufficient severity to render the animal incapable of producing shelled eggs in future seasons, or even outright (though not immediate) mortality as a result of egg yolk peritonitis.