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Turtle in Central Park

Myrtle the Turtle - get it?; Photo - NY PostA 35 pound snapping turtle was hit by a car in Central Park! The Post says Myrtle is going to Connecticut for rehab (but not the Mariah-Billy Joel kind at Silver Hill). She had been looking for a place to lay her eggs.

It doesn't seem like Myrtle will be back for the BioBlitz. More on snapping turtles.

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By Jen Chung in on June 26, 2003 12:07 PM

Comments [rss]

  • Weird. I saw a run-over turtle this weekend in a parking lot down in Durham, NC. And those things walk so slowly there's no way it could have been the same one.

  • jake

    the university of maryland mascot is a "fighting terrapin"- it looks like a really angry tortoise.

  • Jen

    Thanks, too shy, Justin, and Mrs. Meadows!

  • Justin Case, Science Correspon

    According to the Tortoise Trust, there's really no difference. In general, in the United States, we call it a turtle if it lives in water and has webbed feet and a tortoise if it lives on land and has stumpy feet.

  • too shy

    turtles live in water some of the time or all of the time (fresh or salt water). then there are the terrapins, who live in swampy water. tortoises live only on land. never in water. special thanks to mrs. meadows, who saw fit to provide us with shelby, our 4th grade class turtle.

  • Jen

    Justin? This is yours to tackle.

  • jake

    oh no! i just saw this great special on nova about the seychelles islands of the east coast of africa- apparently that's where the largest colony of tortoises in the world lives. five times as many as in the galapogos islands. is a turtle the same thing as a tortoise?

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