Pursuing Pepper Protection: Habanero Pepper Powder Does Not Reduce Raccoon Predation of Terrapin Nests

摘要

We replicated the turtle nest predation-reducing technique used successfully in 2013 by Lamarre-DeJesus and Griffin to test its generality with a different turtle species and a different predator. We found that the application of habanero pepper powder to diamondback terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin) nests did not reduce predation by raccoons (Procyon lotor). This suggests that the efficacy of predator-reducing techniques should be tested for each combination of turtle and predator species.