Dogs Lend Their Noses to Find Turtles for Science

We all rush over to see: Skeeter stands triumphant by Rucker’s side, holding an ornate box turtle tenderly in her mouth. “You see the way she just wouldn't give up, circling, circling around the spot,” says Rucker proudly of Skeeter. “She knew she could smell the turtle, but she just had to micro hunt until finally she was touching it with her snout.”

TNC’s Nachusa Grasslands offers the turtles an expansive home. At 4,000 acres, the preserve is one of the largest prairie restoration sites in the state. 

“From a turtle preservation perspective, the quality of the site matters,” Bach says. “You have to keep their spaces healthy and let them do their turtle thing.” 

Today, the research team and the dogs are searching for ornates in a section of Nachusa that TNC purchased about 15 years ago. The original prairie was never plowed, only grazed, which made it a good site for restoration—and for ornate box turtles, says Bach.

Keeping the original home sites of ornate box turtles intact and healthy is important to their survival, Bach stresses. The reason: ornates tend to be faithful homebodies. If the turtles are moved outside their home range, they often attempt to walk back, possibly crossing highways and other dangerous roads to get there. This tendency makes it difficult to establish new populations of ornate box turtles by transferring adults to suitable habitats, such as reconstructed prairie sites.

The Turtle Dogs

A dog’s sense of smell is estimated to be 10,000 to 100,000 times better than a human’s. Research has found that canines have about 30% more olfactory receptors than people do. They are also very good at detecting a specific scent when surrounded by a distracting number of odors.

It’s no wonder dogs have become essential workers in airline security, search and rescue operations and other occupations that require a sensitive nose. Dogs have also been trained for a variety of conservation tasks, such as finding endangered bumblebee nests and snuffing out the dung of leopards, bears and other wild animals to help scientists estimate numbers in these populations. 

When it comes to seeking out and studying turtles, Rucker’s squad of Boykin spaniels have become critical to scientists and conservationists across North America. Rucker discovered on a hunting trip that some Boykin spaniels have an affinity for seeking out and finding turtles. Thus began a second career for the retired English teacher and nature lover. Rucker now raises, trains and transports his dogs around the country to help find and monitor various types of turtles, including Eastern box, Blanding’s and wood turtles.

“Every single morning out with the dogs is just so special,” says Rucker. 

“They teach me things every day.”

Boykin spaniels are known as soft-mouthed dogs, which means they are easily trained to gently pick up and carry creatures and items in their mouths without harming them. The South Carolina breed was originally bred to hunt pheasants and other birds.  “I’m careful to train the dogs not to be hardmouthed or they’ll be ruined for turtle seeking,” says Rucker.

This is the ninth spring that the dogs have helped the UIUC team find ornate box turtles at Nachusa. “The dogs are tremendous tools for conservation,” says Allender. Humans, who must rely on their eyes to find turtles, usually only find about one turtle every four hours, he explains. In comparison, trained dog teams find about eight turtles per search hour, according to one study. 

The scientists take various measurements on the turtle that Skeeter found, as well as a second turtle discovered earlier in the morning. The two turtles are weighed, measured and examined. Their temperatures are taken, and their heart rates detected with a portable Doppler monitor.

Blood is also drawn to analyze later for signs of disease, ranging from anemia and inflammation to poor kidney function. A test for ranavirus—considered the Ebola of cold-blooded animals, including turtles—will also be performed. While rare, ranavirus outbreaks can quickly decimate populations. 

The ongoing research, which has been underway for 18 years, aims to identify health trends over time and across sites in ornate box turtles, as well as its cousin the Eastern box turtle. Data has been collected on more than 4,000 of these turtles in Illinois and Tennessee.

Because the researchers return most years to Nachusa and other locations, they often catch the same turtles more than once, which helps identify how the turtle’s health has changed over time. One of the turtles found today is a repeat capture. The researchers know from the notches in the reptile’s shell, which is a painless way to mark a turtle for ongoing study.  

Both turtles found today—one female and one male—appear to be healthy based on the initial exam. The shell of one turtle has healed over puncture wounds, likely from a coyote or other predator, but the turtle was unharmed. 

Before returning the turtles to the prairie, Dr. Laura Adamovicz, UIUC research scientist, places tiny transmitters on them, which will allow her to find the turtles for a related study. She will be closely following 50 ornate box turtles across different sites in Illinois from May to October this year. Once a month, she will revisit each site and find the turtles she has tagged with a transmitter to repeat the health exams and tests. 

“We usually only seek out the turtles once a year in spring, and we want to understand how their health status changes over the season,” says Adamovicz. “Reptiles are different to mammals because their physiology is so tied to temperature. A lot of their health variables will change based on what’s going on outside.” 

A number of insights into box turtles and conservation have been uncovered by scientists. For instance, a study led by UIUC researchers—conducted at Nachusa and two other natural areas—provided invaluable information on when ornate box turtles are almost guaranteed to be underground (November 1 through April 1). This is helping TNC determine when to time prescribed fire, a key restoration tool, to protect turtles.  

Another study, coauthored by researchers from the Illinois Natural History Survey, UIUC, and the Brookfield Zoo Chicago, analyzed data collected on ornate box turtles from Nachusa and another site owned by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. The analysis suggests that ornate box turtles may be on a slow decline at both sites. One key take-away is the necessity of protecting reproductive female turtles. Healthy females lay more eggs over more seasons than unhealthy ones, ensuring the long-term stability of the population.