Turtles Favorite Fish Essay Example For Students

Turtles Favorite Fish Essay The project I am working on is called Which Type of Fish do Turtles Prefer toEat? I chose this topic because I wanted to see if the size and color of thefish really matter when it comes to the turtles eating. I also chose thistopic because of the fact that I always have greet colored fish left in the tankafter I feed my turtles. I am especially interested if the size of the fishmatters when the turtles are eating. I say this because when they are eating itlooks like they go after a particular type of fish it usually is the bigger fishin the tank. But the main thing I really want to figure out is if it reallymatters to the turtle. I want to know this because maybe turtles are like otheranimals in that they might chose the food they eat or maybe they dont carewhat they eat. Materials The materials I used to conduct my project were verysimple. I used two turtles which were my own and I uses a thirty gallon tank tohouse the turtles used goldfish as the food for my experiment. The goldfis h Iused varied in size and color. Some of the fish were big and some were of mediumor small size. The color of the fish also varied. Some of the fish were orange,white, red, or Gerry used a video camera to record the turtles section of fish. I recorded the activity of the turtles when I was not there to watch them. Someof the other things I used were a feeder to help me monitor what type of fish Iwas feeding the turtles. Procedure The procedure I used was simple. Every day Iwould put in different types of fish. One day I would put in big fish with aorange color and the next day I would put in fish that were smaller and thathave a different color. I did this for three months. After each feeding period Iwould record my results. Hypothesis I think that the turtles will eat the fishaccording to their size. I feel that the big turtle will eat big fish and thesmaller turtle will eat the smaller fish. And for the color of the fish I thinkthat the turtles will choose the brighter colored fish because they are easierto see and that the turtle may have an easier time distinguishing it as foodinstead of a rock or log or something floating in the water. Results The resultsI had were that the smaller turtle still ate the bigger fish and that theturtles seemed to always eat the brighter colored fish first. Really I thinkthat the turtles really didnt care what size e the fish was but what thereally cared about was the color of the fish. I say this because each time I fedthem there always seemed to be a lot of gray colored fish left over. The resultsof my experiment somewhat correlated to my hypothesis in that the color of thefish has an affect on what the turtle will eat. Conclusion The conclusion of myexperiment is that the turtles dont really care about the size of the fish,but the turtles really care about the color of the fish. I know this becauseduring my experiment the turtles seemed to favor the orange fish and the alwaysleft the gray fish there. Even when there were only gray fish in the tank theturtles still did not choose to eat them. So in conclusion of my experiment theturtles dont really care for size but the turtles really care about the colorof the fish. General Information Scientific classificatio n Trachemys ScriptaElegans. Common name Red-Eared Slider or Florida turtle. Geographic distributionThis native of the south of the United States is found in many places of theworld. It has been introduced by people who bought them as pets to later releasethem in the wild when they decide they dont want to keep them anymore. Thisrepresents a big problem. In southern Europe, for example, the red-eared slidercompetes for survival against the costume of Europe who is now in danger ofextinction. Size It can grow up to 30 cms (11.8 inches). Longevity In the wildit can live about 20 years, but in captivity some specimens have been reportedto live up to 40 years. Physical description It is dark green with yellow linesand distinctive red patches at both sides of the head. Sliders can bedistinguished most easily by their rounded lower jaw (which is more squared offin Pseudemys species). The toes on her rear legs are connected by a membrane(like ducks), since they are aquatic animals. Gender i dentification Males havelonger claws in their front legs. The cloaca in females is located closer to thecarapace than in males. Red-eared Sliders (Chrysemys scripta) are foundthroughout the United States east of the Rockies. The subspecies C. s. elegansis the one most often sold in pet stores here and abroad. These fresh waterturtles spend much of their time in the warm waters of their native habitat. .uad6a6a216cb17df0b15d82604fb6cdd4 , .uad6a6a216cb17df0b15d82604fb6cdd4 .postImageUrl , .uad6a6a216cb17df0b15d82604fb6cdd4 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .uad6a6a216cb17df0b15d82604fb6cdd4 , .uad6a6a216cb17df0b15d82604fb6cdd4:hover , .uad6a6a216cb17df0b15d82604fb6cdd4:visited , .uad6a6a216cb17df0b15d82604fb6cdd4:active { border:0!important; } .uad6a6a216cb17df0b15d82604fb6cdd4 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .uad6a6a216cb17df0b15d82604fb6cdd4 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .uad6a6a216cb17df0b15d82604fb6cdd4:active , .uad6a6a216cb17df0b15d82604fb6cdd4:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .uad6a6a216cb17df0b15d82604fb6cdd4 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .uad6a6a216cb17df0b15d82604fb6cdd4 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .uad6a6a216cb17df0b15d82604fb6cdd4 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .uad6a6a216cb17df0b15d82604fb6cdd4 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .uad6a6a216cb17df0b15d82604fb6cdd4:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .uad6a6a216cb17df0b15d82604fb6cdd4 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .uad6a6a216cb17df0b15d82604fb6cdd4 .uad6a6a216cb17df0b15d82604fb6cdd4-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .uad6a6a216cb17df0b15d82604fb6cdd4:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Sharecropping EssayWhile they are strong underwater swimmers, these sliders spend much of thewarmer hours of the day hauled out on logs or rocks (or, when very small, onmarsh weeds and other aquatic plants) basking in the sun. All of the sliders areomnivores, eating both animal protein and vegetable/plant matter. Youngerturtles need up to 40% of their food from protein sources; adult turtles feedmore heavily on vegetation. In the wild they begin by eating tiny fish andamphibian larva, water snails and a variety of plants growing in the water andon land. It is illegal in the U.S. for pet stores to sell turtles less than fourinches in length (this is problematic for those sp ecies whose full adult size is4 or less!). The ones sold legally will be at least four inches long fromthe neck end of the carapace (top shell) to the tail end of the carapace. Ifmale, it will be somewhere between 2-4 years old and already sexually mature. Wild females reach maturity later, between 5-7 years, and will then be over 5inches in length; in captivity, females may reach maturity at about 3 1/2 years. You will be able to tell male from females: males are smaller than females inoverall body size but have longer tails. As with all wild-caught reptiles, theanimals found in pet stores have been under stress for some time. As a result,they are most likely suffering from protozoan and bacterial infections,including Salmonella which is easily transmitted to young children. Additionally, they are usually emaciated and dehydrated due to long periods oftime without food or water or being held in areas too cold to stimulate theappetite; many of these turtles will not eat when they are stressed orfrightened, and cannot eat when they are too cold. As soon as you can after youtake your turtle home, scoop up a fresh fecal sample and take it and your turtleto a reptile veterinarian. While the feces is being tested, the vet will checkout your turtle for signs of nutritional deficiencies, topical bacterial orfungal infections, beak overgrowth, respiratory and eye infections all verycommon in wild-caught animals (and in captive turtles who have not been providedwith the proper environment or diet). Make sure your turtle is given all themedication prescribed by the vet. If you have trouble administering it yourself,take your turtle back to the vet to have it done. If maintained at the propertemperatures, fed a healthy varied diet and kept in a stress-free activeen vironment, your turtle may outlive you: some individuals have lived more than100 years.