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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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) [...]
This week in Kane County was an example of how turtle work is not always full of happiness, excitement, and well, turtles. One of our sites this week only produced one Blanding’s turtle. This turtle is an adult female that we were able to track via radiotelemetry, and she is [...]
If there is one thing we have learned about field season, it is that every trip has its own story. Some trips are defined by unexpected wildlife sightings. Some are remembered for the places we visit. Some stand out because of the people who join us. And some become memorable because everything [...]
It’s nesting season! This means the adult female turtles are out and about searching for the ideal area to lay their eggs. The Blanding’s turtle prefers to nest in open areas with well-draining soil and will travel great distances to find the perfect spot. This often involves putting themselves in danger by crossing highways and [...]
Both Jenna and Sathvik had a good week in the field, joined by some friends from the Terrestrial Turtle Team! Here are their updates: Sathvik: To start off the week, Gail (part of the NEIU turtle team and helping with the Blanding's project as well!) and I were left to track down some of our [...]
Over the course of six days, Grace and Becca logged 150 hours straight together as we bounced from northern Illinois to the Chicago area, then all the way down to eastern Tennessee and back again. Along the way, we met incredible people, sampled dozens of turtles, learned new skills, shared lots of laughs, and [...]
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