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Autumn for local sports fans means cheering, "Go, Terps!" for another exciting University of Maryland team. But even as the pumped-up fans brandish their "Fear the Turtle" pennants, many must wonder, "What is a terrapin, anyway?"

An Algonquin word for small turtle, the terrapin has been the University mascot since 1933 and the state reptile since 1994. Yet few Marylanders could pick one out of a turtle crowd. Some confuse the animals with sea turtles, says Marguerite Whilden, terrapin researcher and former member of the Maryland Diamondback Terrapin Task Force. Agile swimmers, terrapins are powered by webbed hind feet rather than the flippers that propel loggerheads and their sea-going relatives.

More closely related to freshwater turtles, such as painted and snapping turtles, only diamondbacks sport concentric rings on the shiny scales of their colorful top shells. Their soft, pale skin can be just as flashy, with each individual displaying a unique pattern of dark splotches, lines, and curves. As Whilden says, "It's one of the most beautiful creatures in the Chesapeake Bay."

Bay salt marshes and tidal rivers are the perfect habitat for terrapins, the only North American turtle that lives exclusively in brackish waters. The local northern diamondback is one of seven subspecies that range from Cape Cod to Mexico's Gulf Coast. Cold winters are spent hibernating underwater in the mud, but the rest of the year finds terrapins stalking the waterways for snails, mussels, crabs, and fish. Females often eat larger prey because they may grow twice the size of males.

Females are also the only terrapins to spend much time on shore. In June and July, clawed feet help them scramble up slippery banks in search of nest sites. Each female lays about a dozen pinkish, leathery eggs in a shallow hole, packs sand over her clutch, and returns to the water. Few eggs ever hatch, however, because raccoons, foxes, muskrats, and even crows raid many nests. Any remaining eggs hatch from August to October, and the quarter-sized reptiles must make an end-run around the waiting beaks of herons and gulls. A lucky few survivors, rarely seen, spend the first years of their lives protected under mats of dead marsh grass.

Over the centuries, humans have also consumed their share of terrapins. Native Americans roasted diamondbacks in the shell, and colonists caught the abundant animals for meat cheap enough to feed servants. By the late1800's, food fashions had converted the common terrapin into a gourmet dish. Steaming bowls of terrapin soup graced the finest dining tables, and chefs prepared Terrapin à la Maryland with a thick cream sauce, laced with sherry, and served with champagne. Chesapeake Bay terrapins were esteemed as the best tasting, with 90,000 pounds harvested in 1891 to sell along the East Coast. But terrapins reproduce slowly, explains Whilden, and populations quickly declined. "We exploited them nearly to extinction," says Whilden. "They're like the buffalo of the Bay."

By the 1930's, thanks to changing tastes and protective laws, the species had begun a turtle-paced recovery. Renewed concerns in the late 1990's led then-Governor Glendenning to form the Terrapin Task Force, which identified several growing threats from human development. The perils are many: motorboat propellers smash swimming turtles, and cars crush females searching for nest sites. Oil spills kill the animals' shellfish prey and spoil nesting beaches. Nest sites are also lost when coastal property owners harden their shorelines with bulkheads and riprap. Off-road vehicles and even foot traffic can crush eggs in their shallow nests.

Governmental budget cuts can impact the animals, too. To the dismay of many terrapin activists, the state Department of Natural Resources recently eliminated Whilden's position as program manager of terrapin conservation. The biggest problem, though, may be lack of information. Only one terrapin population, in the Patuxent River, has been closely studied. Too little is known about where they live and what they need to survive. Poor harvest data especially troubles 1999 Task Force Chair William Moulden. The vast Asian food market is increasing demand for turtles worldwide, says Moulden, yet no one can assess the market pressures on terrapins because so many are caught illegally. Says Moulden, "You need good science to regulate a fishery well."

Lucky for terrapins, conservationists have as many problem-solving strategies as a top football coach. At New Jersey's Wetlands Institute, for example, the eggs of road-killed females are salvaged and incubated. Hatchlings grow in tanks for a year, giving them a head start on survival in the wild. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources works with beachfront owners who post "terrapin sanctuary" signs, teaching them how to protect and restore eroding beaches. Moulden of the MD Task Force runs an independent campaign to rescue adult diamondbacks; he purchases females from seafood wholesalers, and students at Annapolis' St. Mary's Elementary School and other groups weigh and measure the animals, then tag and release them.

At Herrington Harbor South in Friendship, a rescue program begun four years ago has returned dozens of young terrapins to the marshes. Gift shop manager Tracie Harris is currently caring for eleven hatchlings in the on-site aquarium and hopes that they'll be big enough-at least four inches-to release next summer. "If they don't hibernate, they grow faster," she explains, "so we keep the water at 80 degrees and feed them frozen leftover bait from the fishing charters."

In Grasonville, teams of volunteers have planted beach grasses and cleaned shorelines to encourage nesting at the Chesapeake Bay Environmental Center. When turtles nest on your beach, says Whilden, "it's a tangible benefit, worth all the effort." When people see wild terrapins or their nest sites, she points out, they get excited about protecting the animals and their environment.

The terrapins' biggest supporter may be the University of Maryland. Since June, 2002, the University Athletic Department has donated part of the proceeds of all licensed "Fear the Turtle" merchandise to the Department of Natural Resources for diamondback research and conservation. Thus, the fiesty sports mascot has become a powerful ambassador for the whole Chesapeake Bay. And if diamondback terrapins can help protect blue crabs, ospreys, rockfish and other citizens of the Bay, we'll all have plenty to cheer about.

Sidebar:
Where to See Terrapins
Diamondback terrapins are notoriously hard to see in the wild. Look for them in spring and summer, swimming in brackish marshes and poking their dark snouts above the water to breathe. A good place to look for wild terrapins and restored terrapin nesting sites is The Chesapeake Bay Environmental Center, formerly Horsehead Wetlands Center, at 600 Discovery Lane, Grasonville, 410-827-6694; www.cbec-wtna.org)

If you want to get close enough to count the diamonds on a terrapin's back, visit a nature center or aquarium with captive animals. To see baby diamondbacks destined for later release in a restored marsh, visit the Gift Shop at Herrington Harbour South Marina Resort, open weekends through the end of October (Route 261, Friendship, 410-741-5100).

The National Aquarium in Baltimore displays terrapins in its tidal marsh exhibit, "Maryland: Mountains to the Sea." For visiting hours and other information, contact The National Aquarium in Baltimore, 410-576-3800; www.aqua.org.