Who got the most Blanding's in their traps? Who avoided all the snappers? Who got the most hand-caps? Who got those big bonus points? This week was all about the Bowl... the Blanding’s Bowl that is! The biggest competition in turtle history that lasts one week after the end of nesting season in celebration of [...]
Nesting season is winding down and that means that we are no longer monitoring our turtles at night to see where they lay eggs! We were able to follow a total of 21 turtles as they naturally nested in the wild and those nests will be periodically checked for depredation (destruction of nest by animals [...]
Over the past two weeks, I decided to take a few breaks from research to see what my peers were up to so far this summer! I was able to go on a few short road trips, spend lots of time in the field soaking up the sun, and hang out with ENDLESS amounts of [...]
This week was one big roller coaster ride - it was exciting, it took crazy turns and it sadly went by too fast. First-off we have to give a huge shout-out to some of our favorite friends that came to visit and help us: Dr. Matt Allender, Dr. Laura Adamovicz, Marta, Sam, Megan, Kelsey, and Lucas. “Team [...]
Our week was a little slow in terms of sample accumulation. We only had 12 new turtles to sample for the whole week. To put this number in perspective, our second week we obtained 53 samples (the highest amount in one week thus far). Many of the turtles we encountered we had previously worked up [...]
We have been discussing our work with turtles for the last few weeks, but what actually makes Blanding’s turtles special, why are their populations struggling, and why is their conservation important? This week we want to shed some light on the natural history and importance of the stars of our summer research show: the Blanding’s [...]
After a three and a half hour drive with a two car caravan packed with basically the entire lab of equipment and people we arrived at Nachusa Grasslands to this beautiful sight! Here was the crew for the week: From W.E.L.: Dr. Allender, Dr. Laura, Samantha, Kelsey, Marta From the Illinois Natural [...]
Our second week has been phenomenal! John went with Gary (Lake County Forest Preserve’s wildlife biologist) and Sam (wildlife life biologist tech) to Field Site 1, while Lauren went with Callie (wildlife biologist master’s student), Emma (wildlife biologist tech) and Veronica (wildlife biologist tech) to Field Site 2. We are alternating field sites each week [...]
If you don't keep up with infectious diseases affecting reptiles, then you may not be familiar with Snake Fungal Disease (SFD). SFD is attributed to the fungal pathogen Ophidiomyces ophidiicola, and is known for causing a nasty dermatitis in many snake species. Maybe you haven't heard of SFD, but you've heard of white-nose syndrome in bats? White-nose syndrome had a [...]
