Do urban habitats induce physiological changes in Mediterranean lizards? R Vardi, S Dubiner, R Ben Bezalel, S Meiri, E Levin Abstract Urban environments offer dramatically different habitats for wildlife compared with natural environments. They provide, for example, different levels of resource availability, anthropogenic night light, and microclimates (e.g., urban heat islands). For reptiles, increased temperatures... Continue Reading →
Life History of Teenage Mutant Painted Turtles
Danielle Sabin THE BACKGROUND When Splinter discovered four baby turtles in a New York City sewer, he had no idea what the glowing green goo was that covered their bodies. He simply cleaned them off and gave them a home. Shortly thereafter, these turtles grew very rapidly and mutated into anthropomorphic beings with proclivities for... Continue Reading →
Urban Observation: Winter Neighbors 2: Red-eared Slider
As this tepid winter sweeps through NYC, a few careful eyes may spot a peculiar sight lounging in the mid-afternoon sun of our urban park spaces. Turtles, out and about in the middle of December! This Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans) was found on December 9, 2022, at 2:06 pm; it was one of nearly... Continue Reading →