3D-printed ‘sex dolls’ help biologist study turtle mating habits
Using 3D-printed “sex dolls” a Carleton University researcher has answered a question biologists had been asking for years — what do northern map turtles find attractive in a female.
Biologist Gregory Bulte says he’s been studying the mating habits of the northern map turtle for about 15 years, but the turtles are skittish and hard to observe because they mate on the bottom of lakes.
He says the females can grow to twice the length of males and he wondered whether males might be attracted to larger females.
Bulte says he and his colleagues printed two 3D printed “sex dolls” of female turtles, identical in every aspect except size, and placed them a metre apart on the lake bed, with cameras rigged up to record how wild males reacted.
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This Week In Turtles…
Urban Turtle Festival celebrates slowly WHEN: Walk at 10 a.m. Saturday, followed by the festival 11 a.m.-2 p.m. WHERE: Eagle Marsh, 6801 Engle Road.
Turtle Time program at Edmonds Demo Garden May 20 from 1-3 p.m. at the Edmonds Native Wildlife Habitat Demonstration Garden.
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Photo from CTV News.
