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Most of our data collecting is complete and we are on to analysis! It was slightly sad to move out of our Lake County \u201cmansion\u201d and away from our 8 other phenomenal roommates, but cleaning out our bedrooms and field lab reminded us of all that we have accomplished this summer. Here\u2019s a summary of what three months of field and lab work resulted in:<\/span><\/p>\n We also had the unique privilege to sample a set of the same 50 turtles over the course of\u00a0three months through the use of telemetry which, along with contributing to a cross- Since we\u2019ve been back, we have been hard at work compiling our files, making sure all data is entered correctly, and working hard on our lab work for our individual projects. We have selected our samples with complete physical exams, blood work and demographic information to use in our final analysis. Since compiling this list we have begun our individual studies.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/vetmed.illinois.edu\/wel\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2017\/08\/IMG_3043-169x300.jpg\" "\\"Box")
sectional analysis of Blanding\u2019s health, will allow to monitor for changes in the health of these turtles over time. This project is focused on determining what is \u201cnormal\u201d for Blanding\u2019s of Lake County in terms of white blood cell levels and ratios, blood chemistry, PCV\/TP, clinical signs, and disease prevalence. Hopefully with our data we will be able to get a good idea of base lines for these values and make comparisons between age classes, sexes, locations, and trends over time.<\/span><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/vetmed.illinois.edu\/wel\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2017\/08\/IMG_2658-169x300.jpg\" "\\"Lauren's")
Lauren <\/strong>has been reading blood smears<\/strong> to ascertain the percentage of each kind of leukocyte present in the blood of each individual. Five types of WBC\u2019s important in the immune response are observed and accounted for: lymphocytes, monocytes, basophils, eosinophils, and heterophils (mammalian neutrophil equivalent). Because reptiles are awesome and have uniquely different blood than mammals these must be manually counted from a blood smear with a microscope and cell counter. There is a lack of primary literature on Blanding\u2019s turtle health, and further chelonians in general. My project hopes to establish baseline hematology in efforts to be a reference range for Blanding\u2019s turtles and other similar reptiles. As a state-endangered species, defining baseline health can be critical to help recover and maintain populations, as well as conserve the ecosystems in which they contribute to.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\t\t