Gregarious behaviour of nesting turtles (Carettochelys insculpta) does not reduce nest predation risk

J. S. Doody, R. Sims and A. Georges
Copeia, 2003, 4, 894-898,
Gregarious behaviour among oviparous female animals just prior to oviposition can be explained by several mechanisms, including a benefit to offspring survival. By clustering eggs together in one area, females may dilute the probability of egg predation. We tested the hypothesis that nest density influences egg survival in the Pig-Nosed Turtle (Carettochelys insculpta) along a river in northern Australia. Beaches with multiple nests were three times more likely to experience a predation event than beaches with single nests.
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