Watch out for turtles in the road, DuPage Forest Preserve warns
WHEATON, Ill. (CBS) -- Keep an eye out for turtles on the road – that is the message from the DuPage County Forest Preserve District.
Turtles are more active starting in the spring. From April through October, roads close to lakes, ponds, and marshes can be frequent sites for turtles looking for water, food, and mates. From mid-May until mid-July, female turtles may veer off even farther from the water to find sites to dig their nests.
If you're driving in a car, the forest preserve emphasized, you can honk your horn all you want at a turtle – but it won't make the turtle get out of the way any faster.
"Turtles aren't able to move quickly to avoid cars, so it's up to drivers to avoid hitting them," district ecologist Dan Thompson said in a news release. "Car horns and flashing lights have no effect on turtles; they simply can't move any faster to get out of the way."
Drivers can avoid turtles by following the rules of the road – staying focused and following the speed limit, and refraining from tailgating, or stopping fast on busy roads.
If you have to pick up a turtle in the road, avoid the animal's front half – also known as the danger zone. Instead, pick u0p the turtle from behind, and move the turtle in the direction it was already headed.
The district also emphasized that turtles don't have much protection from injury despite their hard shells.
Further, the death of one adult turtle is significant to the entire population – as a 30-year-old endangered female Blanding's turtle, for example, can lay a dozen or more eggs every year and live 70 to 80 years. If that female turtle dies at 30, the district said, 500 or more hatchlings would never come into being.
Moreover, hatchlings have survival rates, and those that do survive take 14 to 20 years to reach sexual maturity, the district said.
DuPage County has several different native turtle species – including musk, snapping, eastern spiny softshell, common map, painted, and Blanding's, the forest preserve said.