How time flies when you’re helping turtles! It’s difficult for me to believe that it’s already mid-July, and yet I feel that in the 1 1/2 months I’ve been here, I feel we’ve accomplished a lot.

The center is now bustling with activity, as people bring their kids in to the Discovery Center for Fins and Flippers on Tuesdays and Wednesday and Marine Animal Medical Mystery Wednesdays. The interns and I had a lot of fun with turtle week, and we’ve been getting pretty creative and involved in planning the crafts each week. I feel as if I get as excited about some of the crafts as much as the kids do! Additionally, we have a good number of volunteers who have just started, and who are making the craft prep workload much lighter for us interns. Thanks guys!

Kids Working on Thermometer Turtles

We have also been busy getting ready for the numerous festivals that take place in July. This past weekend, the interns divided up to attend two festivals; the Sandwich Street Fair and the Swan Festival in Wareham. The Barnstable County Fair, the biggest event of the summer, should be a fantastic time! Starting nest weekend, we will have a table set up in the big tent from 12-10pm until Tuesday. In additional to getting a lovely marine animal tattoo (fake, of course!) and getting to see some of the cool whale specimens at our table, come enjoy the music, food, and (best of all) the RIDES! Can you tell I’m excited?! It will be a great time for all.

In heavier news, it is bothersome to me that the oil in the Gulf spill has yet to be capped, and that the test of a new method if being delayed for another day. Why must we keep waiting? Thousands upon thousands of gallons of oil is still escaping everyday, harming our ecosystems… in my opinion we are not moving fast enough. I also just recently read an Associated Press article about how the first Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle eggs evacuated from the Gulf were released in the Atlantic. The article stated:

“…the newborn Kemp’s ridley sea turtles did well after their release.

About 700 sea turtle nests — each containing about 100 eggs — are being trucked from oiled shores along the Gulf to Cape Canaveral, where they’re kept at a climate-controlled facility. The turtles are being released into the Atlantic as they hatch.

Scientists feared that a generation of the imperiled species would die if they hatched and swam into the oil.”

It is comforting to know that so many turtles were saved, but one wonders what the implications may be for future generations of turtles, which have always nested on the same beach, are relocated to a different environment. It seems only time will tell.

In turtle news at NMLC, Patty’s shell is slowly re-growing! Yesterday, Roger’s removed a good deal of dead tissue, and underneath was a dark pigment of shell starting to return. This is very exciting news, and though Patty’s shell now looks very pink and raw, it is nice to know she’s on the rebound. Catch 22 is as feisty as ever, and the interns seem to enjoy his natural sunlight basking treatment (AKA tanning time) as much as he does.

Summer is in full swing at NMLC, but I’ll be sure to send another update soon!

-Dory

I realized on my last blog that I did not really talk too much about the daily duties of an intern. Therefore, this blog will just be a broad recap on some of the recent goings-on at NMLC.

Because some very significant donors came this past Thursday to take a look at the animal hospital, our assigned task for a good part of this week was to have the place looking spick and span rather than a haphazard construction site; after hours of heat, sweat, and dirt, the place looks great. I keep looking at the plan and visualizing how grand it’s going to be when it’s all completed. It will really bring so much to the Buzzards’ Bay area in terms of being a site of interest to attract tourists, but it will also be a stately facility to provide great rehabilitative care to sick or injured marine animals.

I also learned this week how to do a full tank change for Patty. It is a multi-step process that sometimes involves manually hauling heavy water-coolers full of salt water to the bin inside, but when I think of all this turtle has been through, it’s so worth it for her. Feeding is, obviously, also part of the daily routine. But it proved particularly challenging that day. Have you ever tried to crack open a frozen clam? It is probably one of the most frustrating experiences you will ever have. For 30 minutes, I tried (in vain) to extract the hearty meat for Patty that was waiting inside… finally, I had to resort to penetrating what I was starting to believe was a concrete shell with a heavy rock. She did not get her typical ‘clams on the half-shell’ that day, but I believe she was fine with this.

Good Ol' Patty... Who can resist that face?!

Another exciting piece of news from this week was that the water quality for the critter tank had improved enough to allow more fish and some invertebrates to now call it their home. Wednesday we went out with buckets and nets and collected different types of crabs, sea slugs, periwinkles, and sea stars. All will be catalogued, and while we may have our doubts as to what kind of relationship the crabs and sea stars will foster (the crab’s dinner delight?) we’ll just have to wait and see. Regardless, the kids that come into the Discovery Center will probably be very excited to see some new critters on display.

On this same topic, the start of the summer education programs is coming steadily upon us, and as such we interns have been dividing up the work in order to be ready. Since each week represents a marine animal, we have all chose one or two weeks that match up with what we want to do. I have whale week, and will also be assisting with shark week (which, btw, matches up with Shark Week on the Discovery Channel…. So cool! J I am fascinated by whales, for their immense size is enough to be overwhelming! Also, as part of my intern project on Deep-Sea Exploration (more on that in a later blog) I will be researching sunken whales. What is a sunken whale, you ask? Quite simply, a whale that has died and sunk to the ocean floor, something I believe most of us overlook. Far from being morbid, these occurrences actually offer scientists a rare opportunity to witness the deep-sea food chain in action and all those that feed off of the whale’s carcass. In some cases, when the meat has already been polished off, underwater robots may attempt to bring up the skeleton for scientific purposes. It really is quite fascinating, and I will definitely post more when I research it in-depth.

One of the crafts I'm looking at for Whale week (7/26)

Whale week will also include some adorable sock puppet whales for kids, and stories. I am hoping to find some on whale migration, for the distances some species travel are quite unbelievable. Perhaps a kid’s version of Moby Dick would also go along with the craft quite nicely, as well as a mini-lesson on the history of whaling, particularly right here on Cape Cod.

Things should be picking up soon with the programs, and it’s very exciting!

Although my main task was the critter tank, I did more than just get that up and running. I helped volunteers like Bob with the Red Bellied Cooters. Linda taught me how to check the water quality. Wendy taught me a trick to make siphoning the water easier. When Len and Paula were in Alaska, I filled in for them. Sometimes I went out and got clean salt water from the pump house when a volunteer needed to be somewhere.  I even helped Joanne create Patty’s new set up with the trash cans and higher water level.

Catch-22

I’m sad to say my four weeks here is up but I really enjoyed my time here. Working with the turtles was a lot of fun and I met a lot of great people. I wish the interns luck with maintaining the Critter Tank and I hope the Discovery Center has a successful summer. Next year I will be going to college at Georgetown University in Washington, DC but I hope will have time to come by and visit NMLC to see what’s going on.

Patty seems to be enjoying the deeper water of her tank.  She explores more and likes to rest on the rocks.

You can visit Patty and see her progress.  NMLC’s Marine Animal Discovery Center is open daily from 10 am to 5 pm throughout the summer.  Click here for directions.  Click here to make a donation to help Patty and other animals in need.

Patty’s favorite food right now is quahogs.  As you can see in the video, she attacks them with a vengeance!  She will also eat clams… once in awhile!  (She can be rather picky.)  Once when we were out of clams and quahogs we tried feeding her scallops and she seemed to like those as well.

Bon appetit, Patty!

P.S. – If you dig for clams and quahogs and have any to spare, Patty would sure like them!  Drop them by any weekday at the National Marine Life Center, 120 Main Street, Buzzards Bay.  Thanks!

Today I went with Joanne and a volunteer to a high school symposium at UMass Dartmouth to talk to high school kids about what the National Marine Life Center was all about.  When we arrived we helped carry the stuff in and helped set it up as well.  We had many turtle shells, skeletons, taxidermy turtles, and a harbor seal pelt.  Once all the stuff was set up a high school class came in and Joanne started her presentation.  During her presentation Joanne had me and the other volunteer walk around the room to let everyone see and feel the different turtle shells, skeletons, and the pelt.  During most of the presentation we just sat and watched.  Joanne talked about the different marine animals of Cape Cod that they dealt with and also she talked about some past patients and some current ones (i.e., Patty).  I thought that her presentation had a large amount of valuable information and for the most part the kids seemed interested.  There will always be those few that don’t like animals much, but that’s their loss.  We ended up doing two presentations and I got to help out a fair amount in both.  Something that I thought was really neat was that I met a senior girl who was planning on going to Unity this up-in-coming fall semester.  Her name was Rachel.  She seemed very interested in going to Unity and asked me a few questions.  Then after we had everything loaded in the van we went out to lunch at Panera Bread and then went home.  I had a great time volunteering at the National Marine Life Center and I hope to work there again as an intern in the summer.  Today I worked 5 hours and 15 minutes.

Editor’s note: Frank Reske, III is a freshman at Unity College in Maine. His major is Captive Wildlife Care and Education. Frank volunteered at the National Marine Life Center over his spring break as part of a community service project for school. He has also applied to be a summer intern at NMLC. This is part 3 of 3 journal entries he wrote as part of his spring break project.

Today was my second day at the National Marine Life Center.  Today I watched as the veterinarians and workers did another check up on Patty.  The reason they do so many checkups on Patty is because she is a very sick turtle.  She has a strange and rare shell disease that is basically no blood is circulating to her shell so it has almost completely fallen off.  Only two other turtles in all the literature and records, of at least the U.S., have ever been diagnosed with this and they were both box turtles.  All that’s left is a few pieces of shell and a hard pink membrane which they call a pseudo-shell.  It looks just like skin but is almost as hard as a shell.  They believe that a new shell is growing under the pseudo-shell.  When Patty was first found she had almost been frozen to death.  When the National Marine Life Center got her she had no use of her hind legs and she was basically blind with her eyes filling up with blood.  Since she has been there she has regained her sight and her leg use, but after having her for a few months they began to notice that her shell was falling off.  In a few weeks it went from a full shell to what it is now.  During her check up today they did the usual, weigh her, etc.  Also they had to pump the feces out of her by putting a tube up her anus and pumping water up there to clean her out.  It was fairly disgusting.  But they did notice however that in her tank was some solid feces which is a good thing because she has had trouble going to the bathroom for a while.  After that I helped clean out her tank with another one of the volunteers.  Then I was asked to help out with Patty’s tubing.  This is when you stick a tube down the turtle’s throat to give her medicine.  Patty did not like that at all.  I was the one who held Patty up right and held her front legs down, another volunteer held her head steady, and Joanne Nicholson put the tube down her throat.  Once the tube was down her throat she stopped fighting us, probably out of shock.  Then Joanne asked me to hold her up right for five minutes so she wouldn’t regurgitate the medicine.  While holding her I accidentally knocked a piece of her shell that was ready to fall off, but I still felt bad because it began to bleed a little.  Once I put her down we rubbed burn creams and skin creams on her to soothe her back (not because of the shell I knocked off but because of her disease).  Then Joanne talked to me a little bit about what the internship would be about and what I would be doing.  While she did this she showed me around and explained everything.  I volunteered 3 hours today.

Editor’s note: Frank Reske, III is a freshman at Unity College in Maine. His major is Captive Wildlife Care and Education. Frank volunteered at the National Marine Life Center over his spring break as part of a community service project for school. He has also applied to be a summer intern at NMLC. This is part 2 of 3 journal entries he wrote as part of his spring break project.

There is a new shell forming under the pink tissue we call the pseudo-shell, this is good news but at this point the new shell is not uniform or sturdy enough to adequately protect Patty.  In fact a large part of what makes a turtle shell protective is the hard covering of the shell which is made of keratin (like our hair and nails), and we have not seen evidence of new growth for this layer, yet.

Additional findings will be made available in Rounds Notes, but in the meantime Patty continues to eat well and as soon as the last dead bone comes off we can take her off antibiotics.  As we approach the one year mark for her rehabilitation it’s also a good time to reflect on the positive effect we’ve had with Patty.  Her back legs are much stronger and she is able to move around her tank.  Her eye’s have cleared and she can see and find food.  She has survived the loss of her shell and we have evidence of new shell growth.  We are also learning about the regenerative properties of turtles in general, so indeed Patty has had a lot to teach us.

Today I went to the National Marine Life Center for my interview for my summer internship.  While I was there, I watched them do a check up on a turtle they call Patty.  She is a diamondback terrapin.  They weighed her, took pictures, and checked things, like her kidneys, to see how she was doing.  Then after that I was asked to follow and help out one of the volunteers with their duties.  We cleaned the red-bellied cooter tank.  I was in charge of washing each piece of the tank, like the pump, heaters, and walls that blocked off the pump.  At the Center they have eight red-bellied cooters, eight diamondback terrapins, and Patty (who is the ninth terrapin).  Then after we were finished with this I sat down with one of their workers there and they explained to me what the internship would most likely be about and asked me a few questions such as why I want to intern there and also some things she wanted to know about that I had put on my resume and cover letter.  I volunteered 2 hours today.

Editor’s note:  Frank Reske, III is a freshman at Unity College in Maine.  His major is Captive Wildlife Care and Education.  Frank volunteered at the National Marine Life Center over his spring break as part of a community service project for school.  He has also applied to be a summer intern at NMLC.  This is part 1 of 3 journal entries he wrote as part of his spring break project.