Vlog on a Log Episode 2
https://youtu.be/DDYzI7H8uMc
Every Turtle Has a Story: How a Tiny Notch Unlocks Decades of Wildlife Research
If you've ever looked closely at a turtle's shell during one of our field seasons, you may have noticed a series of tiny notches along the edge of its shell. At first glance, they might look like random markings...but they're anything but random. Those tiny notches are actually one of the most powerful tools [...]
Lake County Week 6: Blanding’s Bowl XIII
Perhaps the most important event in wildlife-based competition happened last week: Blanding's Bowl! Before we recap the 13th annual edition of this competition, let me catch you up to speed on what Blanding's Bowl is. Originally conceived by Blanding's turtle forefather Gary Glowacki in 2013, the once simple celebratory competition between Lake County technicians has [...]
Week 6: Ssswitching Things Up
While we obviously have a special place in our hearts for turtles, it’s Kane County’s turn to talk about something other than turtles. This week was an eventful week full of slithery little snakes. Another part of our work here involves checking previously set snake boards at various sites around the county. Snake boards are [...]
We Found a Box Turtle…Now Comes the Fun Part!!
Finding a wild box turtle is always exciting. After hours of hiking through forests and prairies spotting that familiar domed shell tucked beneath vegetation never gets old. But while finding the turtle may be the highlight of the day, it's actually just the beginning of the story. Once a turtle is located, our field [...]
Lake Co Week 5 Update
Sorry for the delay on this update! We have been very busy making sure we are prepared for next week's Blandings Bowl! -- Though Lake County was spared the worst of the scary Illinois weather last week, rain still affected our ability to catch and sample as many turtles as we would have liked. While [...]
Week 5: A Little Head Start Goes a Long Way
Headstart Blanding’s with transmitter What’s cuter than a Blanding’s turtle? A baby Blanding’s turtle! Our recent blogs have discussed how we are collecting Blanding’s turtle eggs, but what is the point of doing that? We are trying to give them a head start on life with a conservation technique known as “headstarting”. This [...]
A Swab Story
Understanding the health of an animal can be done in many ways: a visual assessment, physical examination, imaging, bloodwork, etc. Another method that is standard in health assessments for the wild turtles we encounter is performing COS and COSS swabs. COS is an oral-cloacal swab, and COSS is a cloacal-oral-shell swab. Depending on the type [...]
Lake County Week 4: How to identify your non-turtles
Seeing as Dr. Allender is away on vacation with no service, we are taking the rare opportunity to talk about something other than turtles (gasp!). Here in Lake County, we don't just catch turtles in our traps (and we care about EVERYTHING we catch... except molluscs, insects, etc). Using our database mECO, we log every [...]
Switching Sides
So, we all like dare I say love turtles, they're amazing, charismatic little to large creatures that steal your heart one by one. But did you know they shared an evolutionary kinship with ... BIRDS. This week, for several days, the Cook County Aquatic Turtle Team (known as the turtle rangers, formerly the turtle squad) [...]