Meet Dr. Matt Allender Jr.

On June 26th, Dr. Adamovicz and Sam joined the Lake County team for Blanding’s Bowl. Blanding’s Bowl is an annual get together between local turtle biologists and the Wildlife Epidemiology Laboratory Dr. Matt Allender Jr. the Blanding's turtle to find as many turtles as possible within a week’s time. People are split up [...]

Meet Dr. Matt Allender Jr.2023-07-19T07:33:58-05:00

TT Leaders’ Declassified Survival Guide- Lab Animal Care

This week, like always, we focused on our beloved lab animals and teaching colonies. The animals include teaching colonies of Prairie Rattlesnakes (Crotalus viridis) and Timber Rattlesnakes (Crotalus horridus), as well as different species of turtles. As future veterinarians, the well-being of all animals in our care continues to be a top priority, even during [...]

TT Leaders’ Declassified Survival Guide- Lab Animal Care2023-07-17T11:46:49-05:00

Blandings Bowl 2023

You've heard of the Super Bowl. You've heard of the Puppy Bowl. You've probably even heard of the Kitten Bowl! But none of those come even close to the prestige and the legacy of Blanding's Bowl. For those of you that live under a rock, let me explain what it is. Once a year, all [...]

Blandings Bowl 20232023-07-16T12:23:43-05:00

TT Leaders’ Declassified Survival Guide- Lab Version

As the summer nears its inevitable end, more and more projects are awaiting their spotlight at the lab. This week, we focused on student projects and preparations for the student that are coming back from the field. And as always, we wanted to share the ins and outs of how to best survive the lab [...]

TT Leaders’ Declassified Survival Guide- Lab Version2023-07-09T22:17:10-05:00

TT Leaders’ Declassified Survival Guide- Disaster Version

TT Leaders' Declassified Survival Guide- Disaster Version This week was quite an eventful one. Illinois and neighboring states experienced low air quality due to the Canadian wildfires (did someone say global warming?). Along with the polluted air, the residents of Urbana-Champaign also experienced thunderstorms and power outages that lasted days. These events inspired the special [...]

TT Leaders’ Declassified Survival Guide- Disaster Version2023-07-03T20:50:11-05:00

Snaps for Snappers

While the Blanding's continue to nest, we had the opportunity to get some more experiences with Painted and Common Snapping turtles. Usually, when it comes to snappers, Surina shies away but this week, with the encouragement of Nick and Bill, not only did she handle a snapping turtle, but was able to process one from [...]

Snaps for Snappers2023-06-26T23:16:23-05:00

Choose your fighter

Here in Cook County, we have two very unique species of turtle – the eastern musk turtle and the spiny softshell turtle. On this week’s blog post, Kami is going to tell you all about these guys! She focuses on these particular species and trying to add to the little that is known about them! [...]

Choose your fighter2023-06-25T21:40:33-05:00

What is Conservation?

One of the most challenging aspects of being a scientist isn’t what you think it is. Sure, there are infinite puzzles to solve and obstacles to overcome; animals die, and foundations don’t give you the money you think you deserve. Well, those are just hockey players losing their teeth, and that’s just par for the [...]

What is Conservation?2023-06-19T22:11:01-05:00

Turtle Doulas At Your Service

This week was filled with a lot of hiking ft the wonderful Sam. Sam has been traveling around to the different counties helping the teams out as well as conducting turtle sampling on her own. We were so happy to have her this week. She helped make all the long hikes enjoyable and even told [...]

Turtle Doulas At Your Service2023-06-19T20:51:55-05:00

Softzilla vs. Chonkosaurus

Chonkosaurus, a rather overweight common snapping turtle found in the Chicago River, has made themself quite the cook county celebrity but during our time out in the field we came across a hefty spiny softshell turtle that we believe could be the perfect foe. Kami and I come across a plethora of common snapping turtles [...]

Softzilla vs. Chonkosaurus2023-06-15T22:47:42-05:00
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