The Painted Turtle
The turtle, he is an elusive creature. Hidden well in the water. He is also hidden well in his shell. The shell alone provokes our childlike curiosity to see what’s inside, to explore. The more we learn about them the more questions we have. How do they live, how do the reproduce, how do they as cold blooded reptiles survive the winter, and many other mysteries. Science has begun to solve some of these problems, but new problems appear every day. Turtles are very interesting animals. One of the most fascinating species of turtles is the Painted turtle.
The Painted turtle is a reptile that lives mainly in north America. It can also be found in Nova Scotia. The species is divided into four subspecies each with their own distinct location. Chyrsemys picta picta (Eastern Painted turtle) located mostly between the Atlantic ocean and the Appalachian mountains. Chyrsemys picta marginata (Midland Painted turtles) located mostly in the great lakes, Ohio valley and all the way down to northern Alabama. Chyrsemys picta dorsalis (Southern Painted turtles) who live dependent on the Mississippi from southern Illinois to the gulf of Mexico. The last subspecies is Chyrsemys picta belli, the Western Painted turtle. These are the painted turtles that live here in Nebraska. They have the largest range of any of the painted turtle species, spanning from the Mississippi all the way to Washington and British Colombia (Dawson, 1998). Painted turtles can generally be distinguished from other turtles by several identifying characteristics. They have a smooth flattened carapace (top shell) that can be brown, olive or black. The carapace can have light yellow or orange lines. The Painted turtles plastron (lower shell) can be ...
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...n content of its blood falls rapidly to near zero. A level that would be fatal to humans in three or four minutes. They are able to do this because they store glycogen. Glycogen can be broken down to provide energy without using oxygen. Second they enter a condition known as metabolic arrest. It is a condition where a cells use of energy is greatly reduced. This allows the organism to go for longer periods on stored nutrition (Storey, 1992).
The more we learn about Painted turtles and all forms of life the closer we get to understanding ourselves and the way that we came to be. Nature continues to astound us with the solutions to new problems. Within these little turtles may be the answer to cryogenics, or to frostbite. There are innumerable bonuses to every new bit of information that we learn. While we may never learn all there is to know, we can know more.
In the Grapes of Wrath, a novel by John Steinbeck, there are many examples of symbolism. One of the most prominent symbols found in this book is the turtle seen in chapter three. This turtle is symbolic of three things: the Joads and their journey west, Tom Joad himself, and the promise of new life. First, here’s a little background information on the turtle. This land turtle was somewhere to go. Where than is, no one knows, except perhaps John Steinbeck. To get there the turtle decides to take the perilous journey down a dusty dirt road that stretches along the quiet countryside. What could happen? A lot more than one might think. In fact, the turtle faces quite a few challenged ranging from pesky insects, to ledges, to even cars. But, the thing that makes this turtle special is that he never gives up (Pages
In the novel, Turtles All The Way Down by John Green there are two types of conflict: person vs. self, and person vs. person. Aza Holmes is the main character in the novel and she experiences conflict with herself everyday. She has high levels of anxiety and outbursts of overthinking which she calls a ‘thought spiral’. In the beginning of the book, Aza introduces her thought process. She hears her stomach making noise in the cafeteria and immediately thinks it’s “Clostridium difficile, which can be fatal” this line demonstrates how the slightest changes to her body send her down a never ending spiral of nerves (Green, p. 4). The thoughts alone aren’t what consume her daily life, ever since she was little she “pressed [her] right thumbnail into the finger pad of [her] middle finger, now there is this weird callus over [her] fingerprint” (Green, p. 5).
Betrayal is being disloyal to others and even oneself, therefore betrayal can cause many emotional fallouts and baggage within relationships. In the story, The World on the Turtle's Back, betrayal is a huge factor in how the story plays out, as it is in the song The Letter by Kehlani, Genesis 4:1-16, and Matthew 26:14-16 . Three ways in which betrayal is portrayed in the story, the song, and the Bible is by the actions people take to one another, disconnections in relationships that lead to betrayal, and emotional baggage.
The turtle must deal with a deadly drought that poses a threat to its life. In the 1930’s Dust Bowl, the Midwest is crippled by series of dust storms that damage the agricultural production of America’s “Breadbasket.” The farmer families migrated west towards California to flee the dry and desolate region. The turtle symbolically does this by trying to get to the other side of the road and relocate to a new area that has a region with more lush vegetation. This determination to move on to a new home is shown on page 20 where Steinbeck describes the turtle, “As the embankment grew steeper and steeper, the more frantic were the efforts of the land turtle” (Steinbeck 20). The turtle
The efforts taking place through different conservation organizations and the State of Florida are making a mixed impact on the survival of Manatees and Sea Turtles. The decline in manatee population has decreased, but due to low reproduction rates, more needs to be done to avoid extinction. The sea turtle outlook is more species specific. Some species of turtle are seeing stabilization in population, while others are not. The State of Florida has a large array of custom license tags that support the conservation efforts taking place within the State. The proceeds go to benefit the local marine life in Florida. With financial resources, state and local cooperation, and through constant research and observation, we are able to learn more about both of these gentle animals. With human awareness of those living in Florida, these two animals will survive
The turtle appears throughout giving the contextual symbolism of the struggles of the Joad family’s survival during the family’s travels to the west and new life. The turtle’s travels alongside the highway on the hot pavement and survives an attack by a driver who purposely swerved to hit the turtle, “And now a light truck approached, and as it came near, the driver saw the turtle and swerved to hit it. His front wheel struck the edge of the shell, flipped the turtle like a tiddly-wonk, spun it like a coin, and rolled it off the highway. The truck went back on its course along the right side”
The poem Mark O’Connor wrote “Turtles Hatching” at a time in his life when was closely studying nature.
“Myths can be described as sacred tales that help man understand the world and his place in it. Myths often try to respond to various eternal questions, such as the origin of the existence of evil, and also, through the archetypes that they provide, seem to give guidance to every generation,” as an Access teacher states, on enotes.com. During one’s education, grammar school through college, we fortunately get the opportunity to be exposed to countless myths and also numerous mythological creatures that we have never heard of before. Personally it was quite the challenge to relate some of these mythological tales into my own life. We don’t usually realize or understand, at that exact time of hearing or reading the creation myth, their drive
Whenever Brian needed food he had found a snapping turtle that laid eggs by the lake he was near. Some quotes from this is on page 94, “...sea turtles that came up on beaches and laid their eggs in the sand.” “Maybe a snapping turtle.” Another quote is on page 96, “The second egg was easier, and by the third one, he had no trouble at all-it just slid down.” I would not survive in this place, even if it meant I would have to eat eggs from a turtle. I don’t like slimy things whatsoever. Nothing would make me change my mind about eating eggs. That’s another reason why I wouldn’t survive in the wilderness
On Tuesday, March 21, 2017, I had the at most pleasure of attending the Mud Turtle Quintet at the Stafford Center for Excellence for Visual and Performing at the recital hall. The quintet consists of instruments ranging from acoustic and electric guitar, both played by Marc Rosenberg; viola, played by Faith Jones; violin one played by Rachel Shepard; violin two played by Melanie Riordan; and cello, by native Ukraine, cellist Vyacheslav Dobrushkin. The band played unique and emotionally captivating combinations of modern Afro-Cuban or Latin American music for string quartet and guitar
The original turtle has long been, and continues to be, a major evolutionary enigma. The oldest turtle clearly identified the turtle. Since turtles appear suddenly in the fossil record, the latest data is not changed with the creation of the event is followed by diversification and
During the time we learn about the turtle, it faces several hardships. First, the turtle attempts to cross the road, “Pushing hind legs strained and slipped, boosting the shell along, and the horny head protruded as far as the neck could stretch,” (Steinbeck, 21). Second, the turtle has to tr...
These basking rocks, or even floating cork for younger turtles, are very important, they have to have a place to bask and get out of the water. Yet if you decide to keep it outside be sure to provide a place to bask, plenty of water, filters, and a covering so other predators can not harm or eat your turtle. Equipment will be different for indoors or outdoors. If you keep your turtle indoors be sure that it can occasionally get fresh air and sun light, but do not keep an aquarium next to a window! Also, make sure your aquarium or pond is clean, this is extremely important to maintain good health for the turtle and provides them with a clean habitat.
If you have ever wondered what it is like to have an obsessive-compulsive disorder and anxiety, then this is the book to read. The main character in Turtles all the way down by John Green is a sixteen-year-old girl who lives in Indianapolis named Aza Holmes. Aza Holmes is just like the typical teenage girl with a couple of twists. She attends high school and hangs out with her friend’s, but she also wonders if she is real or not and as a child, developed a compulsion to test if she is real. She tests this theory by pressing her thumbnail into the pad of her middle finger, opening a cut that she believes proves her reality. Aza gets bad anxiety through her fear of bacteria. This fear of bacteria sends Aza into what she calls “thought spirals”, in which her fearful thoughts take over her mind and send her into panic. Aza does have medication to help control her so called thought spirals, but she resists on taking it regularly because she doesn’t like feeling that something else is determining who she is and how she behaves.
"A picture can paint a thousand words." I found the one picture in my mind that does paint a thousand words and more. It was a couple of weeks ago when I saw this picture in the writing center; the writing center is part of State College. The beautiful colors caught my eye. I was so enchanted by the painting, I lost the group I was with. When I heard about the observation essay, where we have to write about a person or thing in the city that catches your eye. I knew right away that I wanted to write about the painting. I don’t know why, but I felt that the painting was describing the way I felt at that moment.