It turns out well-managed golf courses are better turtle habitat than some farms and parks.

At least, that's the word from National Geographic, not normally prone to pro-golf hysteria. (If golf can be said to inspire anything like hysteria even among its devotees.)

In "Turtles Flourishing in Golf Course Ponds," NatGeo reports on two studies by University of Kentucky herpetologist Steven Price, published in the Journal of Herpetology:

Price and his colleagues sought to understand the fate of turtles in the Charlotte, North Carolina, metropolitan area, where galloping growth has swallowed 60 percent of the undeveloped land in some counties.

The researchers set out nets baited with tins of sardines in 20 local ponds. Some ponds were on golf courses, others in cattle pastures or neighborhood parks. The scientists checked the traps every other day, extracting any occupants by hand.

The surveys showed that two common species—the painted turtle and the slider—were just as abundant in golf course ponds as in farm ponds ... while neighborhood ponds placed a distant third.

And golf course ponds boasted a richer variety of turtle species than farm and neighborhood ponds, because the area around golf course ponds tended to have better connections to other green space, the scientists report in an upcoming issue of the journal Landscape and Urban Planning.

It's not clear why more kinds of turtles hang out near the fairways than down at the local park. Perhaps it's because golf courses often boast multiple ponds and even lakes or streams. And the courses' large stretches of grass and field are good for turtle nests.

Read the rest here.