It's been awhile, what in the world have I been up to??? Keep reading and see! During my first week of the 2021 field season, I had the honor of joining Lauren in Cape Cod sampling box turtles! After a grueling 17 hour drive out there, the week definitely lived up to my expectations. [...]
This week I had the honor of finding and sampling Blandings turtles in Illinois! I got bust out the waders from the storage closet and yes, they did in fact have water in them...STILL. After a three hour drive and coffee break later, it was time to check the traps! While the traps that [...]
You may be wondering, what is the point of this project? What is so special about the Blanding's turtle? Here is the scoop on Blanding's turtles and why they need our help! A Background on Blanding's Blanding's turtles (Emydoidea blandingii) are best known for their brilliant yellow chin and throat, and their notched upper jaw, [...]
Left to right: Dr. Matt Allender, me, Dr. Erin Newman, You Na Jeon This week, we added a few more helping hands to the Kane County Blanding's team! You Na Jeon, our visiting fourth-year veterinary student from Wisconsin, stuck around to help for the week and on Wednesday, we had a surprise visit [...]
Hello again! I promise I haven't forgotten about you guys; it's been difficult to update my blog with all my adventures the past couple weeks since I haven't had access to internet! So much happened during Week 1, I hardly know where to start! The first week was filled with fun, new experiences, friendly visits [...]
Hi there! My name is Aubrey Engel and I'm a second year vet student in the Wildlife Epidemiology Lab (WEL)! This summer I will be heading up north to Kane County, IL to pilot a new health study in Blanding's turtles (Emydoidea blandingii). This study will be very similar to the one my colleagues, Kirsten [...]
Our next adventure took us to the North side of Chicago in Lake County were we met up with our Blanding's Team, John and Lauren, to help out for the week and do a little team bonding. We worked with the Blanding's Turtle, an endangered aquatic turtle species, that looks like it's always smiling because [...]
Blanding's Turtle Research I am excited to be spending my final summer break of veterinary school hiking through forest preserves looking for turtles. As part of Dr. Allender’s Wildlife Epidemiology Lab and along with Dr. Dana Lindemann, the first-year zoo resident at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine, I am completing a project [...]
