A Conservation Biologist's vacation!

I'm sorry that I have been offline for about a week. I was on vacation! :)

So, what does a Conservation Biologist do for a get-away vacation...? Go camping, of course! Don't get me wrong, I love to be on the beach and relax in the sun, but getting out into the middle of nowhere with no cell phone reception and the chance to see amazing animals is priceless. I love to look for wildlife in the different states. If I wasn't a Conservation Biologist, then I'd probably be a wildlife photographer. Hiking in the middle of no where and getting the chance to see wild pig, rattlesnakes, box turtles and owls all sharing the same habitat is amazing. And depending on where you are will depend on what you see!

This vacation took me to a National Forest in Alabama with my boyfriend, Caleb and our good friend, John. As a conservationist, I was WOWED at the amount of Eastern box turtles that were there. I was blown away! We had to stop our car frequently to help a box turtle cross the road (and always take them to the side that they were heading toward). I remember being a kid and seeing Eastern box turtles all the time in Ohio and Kentucky, but I haven't seen one in YEARS. So I was both incredibly please and a little sad to see so many box turtles. Pleased because they are amazing, unique and beautiful animals, and sad because I remember them being more prevalent and their population is obviously being affected. We actually caught a box turtle laying her eggs in Alabama and it was truly an amazing sight! She was digging with her back feet and we knew exactly what she was getting ready to do. So we quickly left her alone to lay her eggs in peace (see picture below).

Another amazing experience was also with turtles. I got to see one of the rarest and hard-to-find turtles in the entire United States! The flattened musk turtle! They can only be found in a small part of this river in Alabama and we were able to find 3 adults and 3 babies. It was amazing to be able to see some of the babies in the wild. It is always a great sign to see babies from a rare species (see picture to the left).


The picture to the right shows an adult male in his natural habitat. (See, I saw a beach during my vacation!).

Overall, despite a little bit of car trouble and a couple small scrapes and bruises from falling down a rock cliff, we had a great time, saw some great animals and had a great adventure. Which is all I ever ask for.

I think the next place we are going to go to will be Illinois. Who knows!