“Turtle Dog” Reporting for Duty
Koda, the Zoo’s “Turtle Dog,” is being trained to assist staff in locating turtles in their native habitat as part of vital conservation work to protect and bolster regionally threatened populations of turtles, particularly the locally rare eastern box turtle. ZNE biologists currently depend on imprecise visual surveys to locate box turtles in dense woodlands. With their well camouflaged shells, human observers might step right next to a hiding box turtle without ever finding it. A dog, however, can use its highly developed sense of smell to pinpoint the turtles much more quickly and effectively. And that’s where Koda, the … Continue