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Silicon Valley Turtle & Tortoise Club Presents
The Western Pond Turtle
“Head Start Programâ€Â
Saturday, June 19th
@ The Oakland Zoo
Reservations Required by June 1st, 2010
Tickets reserved thru Kevin Norred at [email protected]
Or (408) 482-5437
Come visit Margaret Rousser and Staff from the Oakland Zoo for a special presentation about the Western Pond Turtle & their efforts to keep the species from going extinct. Presentation is at the Oakland Zoo Auditorium from 10am to 12pm. Come see and learn first hand about juvenile Western Pond Turtles that have been artificially incubated by Professor Nick Geist of Sonoma State University, which have be raised for release back into native ponds to increase the numbers of the Western Pond Turtle, California’s only native Aquatic Turtle.
Tickets will be reserved on a first come first serve basis. We have seating for 150 people. Tickets are $8/adults & $6 for children. Donations are welcome. All proceeds including ticket sales will go directly to the WPT program. Parking is $6 per vehicle. After the presentation, guest can visit the park and some of the Sulcata/Aldabra Tortoises on display. Guest will be required to meet at the Lower Gate Entrance ( Not the Main Entrance ) at 9:45 to enter as a group on the morning of the presentation. The presentation will be at the Zimmer Auditorium or AKA Maddies Center for Science & Education.
The Oakland Zoo is nestled in the rolling hills of 525-acre Knowland Park. The Zoo is located at 9777 Golf Links Rd., Oakland off Highway 580, and is home to more than 660 native and exotic animals. General information number: 510-632-9525
What is the Head Start Program?
The Western Pond Turtle (Clemmys marmorata) has declined precipitously or been eliminated entirely in so many parts of its former race that it is now protected by the Department of Fish and Game as a California Special Concern Species.
Originally, the WPT ranged from Mexico to the Canadian border in a narrow strip along the United States coast until recently. Once estimated to have populations in the millions in California alone, it has virtually disappeared from most urban areas of southern and northern California and most of the Central Valley.
With strong efforts from Sonoma State, The Oakland Zoo and San Francisco Zoo, there is a fight against time to help establish Western Pond Turtles throughout California to help keep the Western Pond Turtle from going extinct. Over the past century, the WPT has taken a huge decline in wild populations due to loss of habitat, introduction of alien species and becoming a food source for other native animals.
The WPT is the only native aquatic turtle species in California. Even though you see thousands of other turtles in our waterways, rivers and streams, the only one that can truly call its home to California is the Western Pond Turtle. In the past decade, the rapidly shrinking numbers has sparked the development of a pioneering partnership between Sonoma State University and the Bay Area Zoos to save the turtle from extinction. Starting with eggs collected from undisclosed Lake County Locations, Professor Nick Geist successfully hatches out the eggs and with the help from the Oakland & SF Zoo’s, they care and raise the babies to one year of age. Each year they monitor the females turtles over the breeding season and follow them to the nest sites, which they collect the eggs. The eggs are placed in multiple incubators in Professor Geist’s lab at the Rohnert Park campus. Once the young turtles begin to emerge, they are transferred to the Zoos. This breeding/head start program is the first of its kind for the species in the state. It is a race against the clock to save the species as if the program doesn’t happen now; numbers will decrease to the point where all genetic diversity will slowly disappear as well.
The support of the Bay Area zoos in this captive breeding program – called â€ÂHead Start†program – is to protect the young turtles, who at the size of a quarter at birth often become tender morsels for predators such as bullfrogs, skunks, and foxes. These predators, as well as the loss of 90% of its habitat, have contributed to a shocking decline in the species.
Also being studied within the program is the study to determine at what temperature the sex of the turtle is decided so that better conservation management techniques can be designed. Can we monitor the amount of females and males in wild populations?
The Western Pond Turtle
“Head Start Programâ€Â
Saturday, June 19th
@ The Oakland Zoo
Reservations Required by June 1st, 2010
Tickets reserved thru Kevin Norred at [email protected]
Or (408) 482-5437
Come visit Margaret Rousser and Staff from the Oakland Zoo for a special presentation about the Western Pond Turtle & their efforts to keep the species from going extinct. Presentation is at the Oakland Zoo Auditorium from 10am to 12pm. Come see and learn first hand about juvenile Western Pond Turtles that have been artificially incubated by Professor Nick Geist of Sonoma State University, which have be raised for release back into native ponds to increase the numbers of the Western Pond Turtle, California’s only native Aquatic Turtle.
Tickets will be reserved on a first come first serve basis. We have seating for 150 people. Tickets are $8/adults & $6 for children. Donations are welcome. All proceeds including ticket sales will go directly to the WPT program. Parking is $6 per vehicle. After the presentation, guest can visit the park and some of the Sulcata/Aldabra Tortoises on display. Guest will be required to meet at the Lower Gate Entrance ( Not the Main Entrance ) at 9:45 to enter as a group on the morning of the presentation. The presentation will be at the Zimmer Auditorium or AKA Maddies Center for Science & Education.
The Oakland Zoo is nestled in the rolling hills of 525-acre Knowland Park. The Zoo is located at 9777 Golf Links Rd., Oakland off Highway 580, and is home to more than 660 native and exotic animals. General information number: 510-632-9525
What is the Head Start Program?
The Western Pond Turtle (Clemmys marmorata) has declined precipitously or been eliminated entirely in so many parts of its former race that it is now protected by the Department of Fish and Game as a California Special Concern Species.
Originally, the WPT ranged from Mexico to the Canadian border in a narrow strip along the United States coast until recently. Once estimated to have populations in the millions in California alone, it has virtually disappeared from most urban areas of southern and northern California and most of the Central Valley.
With strong efforts from Sonoma State, The Oakland Zoo and San Francisco Zoo, there is a fight against time to help establish Western Pond Turtles throughout California to help keep the Western Pond Turtle from going extinct. Over the past century, the WPT has taken a huge decline in wild populations due to loss of habitat, introduction of alien species and becoming a food source for other native animals.
The WPT is the only native aquatic turtle species in California. Even though you see thousands of other turtles in our waterways, rivers and streams, the only one that can truly call its home to California is the Western Pond Turtle. In the past decade, the rapidly shrinking numbers has sparked the development of a pioneering partnership between Sonoma State University and the Bay Area Zoos to save the turtle from extinction. Starting with eggs collected from undisclosed Lake County Locations, Professor Nick Geist successfully hatches out the eggs and with the help from the Oakland & SF Zoo’s, they care and raise the babies to one year of age. Each year they monitor the females turtles over the breeding season and follow them to the nest sites, which they collect the eggs. The eggs are placed in multiple incubators in Professor Geist’s lab at the Rohnert Park campus. Once the young turtles begin to emerge, they are transferred to the Zoos. This breeding/head start program is the first of its kind for the species in the state. It is a race against the clock to save the species as if the program doesn’t happen now; numbers will decrease to the point where all genetic diversity will slowly disappear as well.
The support of the Bay Area zoos in this captive breeding program – called â€ÂHead Start†program – is to protect the young turtles, who at the size of a quarter at birth often become tender morsels for predators such as bullfrogs, skunks, and foxes. These predators, as well as the loss of 90% of its habitat, have contributed to a shocking decline in the species.
Also being studied within the program is the study to determine at what temperature the sex of the turtle is decided so that better conservation management techniques can be designed. Can we monitor the amount of females and males in wild populations?
