Family Trees of the Gulf: teacher key

Alligator Snapping Turtles, grade 11 edition, written for 11th grade. Alligator snapping turtles live in the rivers that flow into the Gulf of Mexico, and scientists track and test them. Genes, surveys and tags show how the turtles live and how far they range.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. How many turtles did researchers track by radiotelemetry in Oklahoma between May 2007 and August 2008?
   • 19
   • 32 (answer)
   • 52
2. On what date did the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service list the Suwannee alligator snapping turtle as threatened?
   • 26 June 2024 (answer)
   • November 2021
   • 1999
3. What did the 2021 federal review find?
   • Populations were growing
   • Populations were in decline and expected to keep declining (answer)
   • Populations were the same as in 1989
4. Which group used a larger linear home range in the reintroduction study?
   • Juveniles
   • Females only
   • Adults (answer)
5. Genetic evidence shows turtles rarely move between Gulf drainages. What does this fit with?
   • Suwannee turtles are isolated from the others (answer)
   • Turtles travel across the whole Gulf each year
   • All rivers hold the same number of turtles

Words

• lineages: family lines
• subpopulations: smaller local groups
• telemetry: remote tracking
• drainages: river systems