Photo by V. Miller
April 2, 2008
The Day of the Tortoise
A Comparison of the Activity Levels of Different Age Cohorts of the Asian Giant Tortoise, Manouria emys, by Photoperiod
Rick Schaffer, 14, Jacksonville, Fla.
National Park Service "Explorer" Team Award, Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge, 2007
Project background: The Asian giant tortoise, Manouria emys, is an endangered species. Breeding it in captivity outside the forests of Southeast Asia where it makes its home could increase its population. Rick reasoned that a better working knowledge of the tortoise's activity patterns during the day would help people who manage such breeding programs. He hypothesized that the tortoises would be most active at midday and that older tortoises would be more active than younger ones.
Tactics and results: Rick observed 32 tortoises at an enclosure for 21 days, starting an hour before dawn each day and continuing until an hour after dusk. The tortoises ranged from hatchlings to adults and were separated into groups by age, bloodline, and subspecies. Rick devised an activity scale, ranging from zero (tortoise buried in dirt) to 6 (most active) and recorded the animals' activities in the sunny enclosure, calculating a score each hour for each group.
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| Photo by V. Miller |
By plotting these results on a graph, Rick found that tortoise activity peaked between noon and 1 p.m. Adults and older juveniles were the most active.
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