Beneath the surface in the waters of Belize, you’ll find the endangered Central American River turtle and occasionally Missouri State University students. These students, under Dr. Day Ligon’s guidance, received extensive competitive grant funding to complete research projects at Ligon’s field station in Belize. Ligon is a biology professor at MSU. Cora Dyslin, biology … [Read more...] about Saving the turtles: Three graduate students secure international conservation funds
Conservation of a species is difficult – mostly because as numbers dwindle, the likelihood of running into an endangered or threatened animal gets slimmer. When you’re talking about an animal that is secretive to begin with, the challenge is even greater. Recently, a group of alligator snapping turtles was discovered in an unlikely place: the metro of Houston, … [Read more...] about Turtles find unlikely home in Houston
Missouri State University is the home of the Bears. Kristen Sardina thinks the real game changer is the alligator snapping turtle. After Sardina visited the Tishomingo National Fish Hatchery in Oklahoma, she noticed some turtles that were a little different than the rest. They were pink. “These pink turtles have rightfully earned their position as our unrelenting … [Read more...] about Pink turtles, brown turtles, big turtles, small turtles: The outliers
How do you tell a male turtle from a female? Three Missouri State University biology alumni, along with adviser Dr. Day Ligon, associate professor of biology, participated in an innovative study to make that determination. This study has been shared around the internet in recent days, most notably in the Washington Post. … [Read more...] about Identifying the sex of turtles
Conducting research to aid the conservation of a species whose numbers have declined is often challenging precisely because they are scarce. For animals that are naturally secretive, they are even more difficult to detect and therefore study. One such species is the alligator snapping turtle which after decades of population decline has been petitioned for federal listing as an … [Read more...] about Biologist works to rebuild families of alligator snapping turtles