The Island's native diamondback terrapin is found in only two places in the world — Bermuda and along a small band of the East coast of the United States.

Facts:

— the terrapin is named for the diamond patterns on its top shell.

— diamondback terrapins are very environment specific choosing brackish ponds, estuaries and tidal creeks.

— they live on a diet of mollusks, fiddler crabs and occasionally small fish.

— males are fully grown by the time they are between three and five years old, while the females are mature between seven and eight years old.

— the females are larger then the males. The shell size of the male averages 5 inches while the female's shell is on average 7.5 inches.

— their nesting sites are typically found in sandy areas or where there is loose soil.

— females, in Bermuda, typically lay between six or seven eggs in early summer which take about three months to hatch. Diamondbacks in the northern states usually lay more eggs — 12 or more.

— only 20 percent of eggs laid usually survive.

— the diamondbacks of Bermuda have been known to nest in the sand traps on the Mid Ocean golf course.

— genetically the terrapins in Bermuda are related to those in South Carolina leading researchers to deduce that the Gulf Stream transported them to the Island's shores.

— their affinity for salt water, however, would have meant even as terrestrial reptiles they would have survived the passage.

— the diamondback terrapin is faced by a number of threats: destruction of its coastal marsh habitat; automobiles (that run more than turtles crossing the road to lay eggs); boat propellors; and rats and crows that eat the turtle's eggs.