Heritage Nature Walk #6: Turtles and Tortoises.

 

Who would have thought, at the very first session, that the Heritage Nature Walks would be one of the most popular of Heritage events? The last Nature Walk was January 16th 2005. You can see them all by working backward from that link or you can find them on your own by following the Archives link on the Home Page.

This session about "Turtles and Tortoises" was conducted by Ken Alfieri, Curator of Alligator Adventure.

Ken first explained the words 'terrapin', 'turtle' and 'tortoise'.
He started the program by showing a pair of domed shaped tortoises.
Ken then explained some of the more subtle tortoise habits.
The Club Committee took care of the 'behind the scenes' details.
Very appropriately for Mother's Day, Ken brought some baby tortoises.

Notice the baby tortoise in the center picture. As he got very close to the edge of the table, several members of the audience warned that one was about to fall off. "No" said Ken. "These guys live on land and know not to fall off a cliff." Sure enough, the baby would walk over to the edge but never fell off. Ken said that the turtles, on the other hand, would make a bee-line for the edge and jump off. They were used to jumping off banks into the safety of the water. Later, he put a turtle on the table and it 'ran' straight for the edge and tried to go over.

And then Ken took the turtles through the audience, biting the ladies on the neck.
(Just kidding. Ken walked around so people could see the tortoises up close. The camera angle in
these two pictures gives totally the wrong impression. He is actually in the row behind the ladies.)
Ken gave advice to residents who kept turtles as pets. For example, he showed one turtle (on the right) which had been fed too much protein by its owner and developed large 'bumps'.

More photos of Nature Walk #6.

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