Our lab, W.E.L., is involved in many projects that play a part in conserving our ecosystem. W.E.L. focuses on reptiles and amphibians. We filled this role because there is a decline in reptile and amphibian wild populations. The goal then is to determine [...]
This week of Turtle Team was the last one of the summer! If that weren't troubling enough... it was that last week of Turtle Team that I would ever be able to help coordinate! I may become sentimental. The Wildlife Epidemiology Lab and the people that I get to work with have done wonders for me [...]
This was our second time, ever, searching at Stephen A. Forbes State Recreation Area in southern Illinois. This search site was so far away from the Wildlife Epidemiology Lab that we had to stay overnight near the site. This means that we got to camp after searching for Eastern Box Turtles and after labwork was [...]
May 19th 2016 Forest Glen Preserve is my absolute favorite site to search for turtles in Vermilion County!! What makes this endeavor even more spectacular is that we had guests from the Box Turtle Conservation Workshop hike with us to search for eastern box turtles. The Box Turtle Conservation Workshop was held the [...]
May 18th 2016 It was a sunny day at Kickapoo State Recreation Area with little to no wind. We captured eight turtles in total during a 2 hour search effort. An added gem to this search effort is that it correlates with Jeremy's PhD study! His radiotelemetry project with Eastern Box Turtles was planned [...]
May 17th 2016 It was a cloudy day at Kennekuk County Park with no wind. We captured nine turtles in total during our 2.5 hour search effort. The quirky thing is that we caught the same amount of turtles as we did on Day #1! Kennekuk's trail map. [...]
Vlog is a video blog per Erin, who is the student completing the Blanding's Turtle research. :) Turtle Team utilizes canines to capture Eastern Box Turtles and I explain the details behind this in the vlog below: John Rucker (left) and Dr. Matt Allender (right) holding one of the [...]
May 16th 2016 It was a mostly sunny day at Middle Fork State Wildlife Area (a.k.a. Collison) with little to no wind. Collison, as a site, is right down the road from Kickapoo State Recreation Area. We captured nine turtles in total during our 2 hour search effort. Not only was it a beautiful [...]
Kayla Boers, a third year veterinary student at the University of Illinois, draws blood from the subcarapacial sinus of an Eastern Box Turtle. Just closed the books on my second year of veterinary school and we're heading to the forests of Illinois to capture turtles! This will be my second [...]
