Oko Nunpa

Monday, Mar 1 to Sunday, Mar 7, 2021: high 72, low 22, gust 32 mph, moisture 0.01"

This afternoon was sunny and the temp was in the low 60s. A beautiful day. Took a long walk along the springs. Saw little minnows flittering about through the water. Saw a few muskrats and some turtles, one snapper and a couple paints in the ponds. But along the north side of the Turtle Pond, i collected these 12 painted turtle shells. Also saw a number of empty shells in the pond, near the shore. And near where i collected the bottom left three in the picture above, there was a living turtle, but upside down. It was using its head and right front leg to try to get back upright, but apparently could not. Its leg was bloodied, seemingly from rubbing while trying to turn over. She (or maybe he) hissed when i got close, but then retreated inside her shell. I gently turned her onto her belly and left. In a little while i returned and she was in the process of turning around, maybe to go back to the little pond that was just a few yards behind her. Hopefully she will make it back and recover from her injuries. It was a little shocking and disconcerting to find so many shells. After taking the picture above, i turned four of the shells right-side up for an experiment to see if there might be a way to guess how long ago a turtle died by the color of the bottom of the shell. According to the internet, only 19% of painted turtles live to their first birthday. But as they grow older, their probability of living to the next year steadily increases to where it approaches 95% for adult females. Females live longer than males, and are larger. They have been recorded to live to 55 years of age. Their fossils go back 15 million years in Nebraska! After looking more closely at the shells above, it looks like each is unique. The design of each appears to be symmetrical, but after looking closer, they are not. The patterns and colors are amazing.