I never get to stop & look at any wildlife when we travel. That has to do with the fact that it takes so long to get anywhere we just don't feel like stopping for fun, there's just never enough time. Unfortunately most of what I see is roadkill.



Although about 25 years ago on I-20 we saw a migration of some sort of large turtle.. back then I didn't know what they were, to this day I still can't find them in a field guide..but then all these years later I can't remember exactly what they looked like either. Based on the size I'm thinking they may have been cooters.



Yellow mud turtles are native to this area but they are so secretive that you just don't see them.

You should see people's reactions when they see my Scooter, nobody who sees him for the first time is ever aware that he is native. I got him as a hatchling, he'd been caught by someone who gave him to me, I would've released him but I didn't know where he came from & didn't want to just toss him out around my house where there isn't any water. He's been here 10 years now, he's been a wonderful pet.



People around here always think of box turtles as "regular turtles" or they think they're snapping turtles & that they are the only turtles that live here. People don't realize that there actually is more than one species native to the area.
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PHRatz

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