Why Did the Turtle Cross the Road?

Baileys Harbor resident Scott Williams rescued this painted turtle on the evening of June 13 as it made what appeared to be a suicidally slow crossing of County E near Coyote Roadhouse.

But he wasn’t the only one to rescue turtles from area roads recently, so we asked a conservation biologist with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Bureau of Endangered Resources to tell us why the turtle crossed the road.

“Usually early spring mating takes place once the snow melts,” said Andrew Badje. “Then around May to June/July, female turtles are primarily the turtles that people see crossing the roads. This is actually because they are laying their eggs in upland habitat that is fairly near a wetland they were residing in. These nesting grounds are imprinted on turtles as soon as they hatch from their eggs. So, once these hatchlings grow to adulthood, they will be instinctively migrating (in some cases across roads) to their natal nesting grounds. Around August and September, the eggs will hatch and juvenile/hatchlings will cross roads and upland habitat to reach the safety of the water, where they will have refuge and food to eat.”