Sam Noble Museum Blog

A young explorer wades in a local pond in the museum's Slime and Scales class

This is the time of year when our Summer Explorers program is in full swing. Every day our education team leads groups of kids out into the ponds, streams, fields and forests around Norman to experience nature close-up and personal.

For some of these young explorers, it is the first time they have ever really been out in nature on this level. Over the years, our educators have ceased to be surprised at how many students know more about the animals of the African serengetti than the animals native to their own back yards. The lure of electronic entertainment draws our kids deeper and deeper into the climate-controlled virtual world and further and further away from the real one. You don’t need to hear me argue in favor of getting our kids out and dirty, but if you want to learn more about it, read Richard Louv’s best-selling book “Last Child in the Woods.”

Anyway… it’s a fun time of year. Every morning a group of clean kids troops out of the museum. And a few hours later a group of very wet and muddy kids troops back in.

Last week Steve Sisney, a photographer for the Oklahoman, joined the “Slime and Scales” class on a trip to a local pond and captured some of the action. Follow this link to Steve’s video footage on Newsok.com and join education officer Jes Cole and her class of 7 and 8-year olds as they make an unusual discovery…

http://www.newsok.com/multimedia/video/28134675001

I rescued a turtle on the way back to the museum after lunch today. It was a basic brown box turtle, bookin’ it across Imhoff near the creek. It’s amazing how fast those little guys can go when they’re motivated, and this one was highly motivated. Ahead: cool green grass, water and shelter. Underfoot: hot black asphalt cris-crossed with deadly, high-velocity mechanisms of roaring death!

I pulled over and tricker-trotted back down the side of the road in my heels and skirt, terrified the poor turtle would get crushed before I could get to it, but I got there in time, picked him up off the mean streets of Norman and carried him the rest of the way across the road. I put him down in some grass and wished him well.

There are few things about turtles I’ve learned from our curators here, for others like myself who are turtle rescuers, or who have kids who love turtles.

Turtle Tips:

When rescuing turtles, move FORWARD. It knows where it’s going, if you’re going to stop for it, pick it up and carry it on in the direction it was headed, not back the other way. If you carry it back, it will just turn around and head back into the road.

Keep them in their neighborhood. Box turtles usually stay within a familiar area. It can take a box turtle a long time, at a turtle pace, to familiarize itself with food sources in its territory. Turtles that are moved sometimes die before they can find sources of food.

Turtles are fascinating, peaceful critters for the most part. But avoid the temptation to bring your rescued turtle home. Turtles live a long long time, and your whim could lead to years and years of responsibility of feeding and housing it. Best to admire it and return it to its home territory.

A few years ago, we did a turtle feature on our newsletter’s Kids Page: here’s the link if you want to know a little more about Oklahoma turtles:
http://www.snomnh.ou.edu/kids/images/newsletter_pages/Summer_05_kids_page.pdf