Turtle Finds Happy Home In Asheville Zoo
By NANCY ALEXANDER
The telephone rang one af
ternoon last week. A voice ex
plained, 'This if Hn. Ray Cof
fey on the Morganton Road in
the Gamewell section. We
caught a 17% pound turtle
while we were fishing at Morti
mer.
"It's the largest turtle we've
: ever seen around here.
"We were wondering if you
might know if the Asheville Zoo
might like to have it"
j We replied, "I don't know,
but it probably would. They
have about everything else. Per
]. haps I can see it before you take
it up there."
I Since our childhood days
when we captured wandering
tarrapins and kept them in box
es, the crusty plodders have fas
cinated us.
The next day we saw the old
character, settled in the bottom
of a barrel A tremendous fel
low he was.
We took with us some infor
mation by which we identified
him as a yellow-bellied turtle,
though he kept his belly hidden
and we saw only markings on
his body.
The yellow-bellied turtle is
known as the slider or cooter
and is the most common large
turtle found in ponds, lakes,
and rivers in North Carolina.
They're often seen sunning on
stumps and logs in water.
The yellow-bellied, like other
turtles, lays its egggs on land.
They dig a hole in the sand,
lay the eggs, cover them, cam
ouflaging the place well, return
ing to the water carefully avoid
ing leaving a trail, and prompt
ly goes her own way, forsaking
her young.
Turtles, tortoises and terra
pins are confusing terms.
The late C. S. Brimley ex
plained it this way: "The word
turtle' which was originally
only applied to the marine tur
tles is now the one most gen
erally applied to the whole
group, the term tortoise' is sel
dom applied to any but the
land and fresh-water species,
and most usually to the former;
the name terrapin is in the
northern United States applied
only to edible salt-marsh spe
cies, but in the south is used
as a general term to include all
the land and fresh-water species
except the snapping turtle and
the soft-shells."
As someone has said, "The
turtle doesn't get anywhere un
til it sticks its neck out of its
shell, which should be a lesson
to most people.
The upper shell or shield is
called the carapace, and the
lower or ventral one is the plas
tron. Turtles have no teeth but
the jaws are covered with a
horny sheath which generally
has sharp, cutting edges. It has
two eye lids and a nictitating
membrane (a thin film that can
be extended to cover the eye
ball. In a few turtles, breathing
is normal in our terms of ref
erence, but in most they gulp
or swallow air.
Turtles are both aquatic and
terrestrial. In the truly aquatic
kinds such as the marine tur
DENTIST DRILLS MISSILE
Tucson, Ariz. ? A missile
turned up to be the "patient"
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than Air Force Base to remove
a broken draft pin from a 103
foot-long Tital I intercontinental
ballistic missile.
The machine shop did not
have a drill delicate enough to
remove the broken pin. The den
tist removed the pin after two
hours drilling and two broken
drills.
?bent thia question:
"I know that an independent
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INSURANCE CO.
Phone AM 4-S2M
ties, the legs are modified into
flippers, while the pond and
stream turtles have webbed
feet. Some large marine tur
tles may attain a weight of 1,
000 pounds and be more than
S feet in length.
The Kay Coffeyi took their
yellow-bellied turtle to the
Asheville Zoo where he is now
comfortbaly and hipplly eat
consed with tb? animals that
were transported from the Ca
tawba Valley Zoo near Granite
' :
YMW Qub Delegates
Attend Banquet -
Georgia Saitherman, Jean
Cook, and Jean Smitherman of
Ike Watauga YMW Club attend
ed the Southwestern and West
ern District Banquet Saturday
night. May XI, at Bame'i Re*
taurant, Barber, N. C.
There were nine counties re
presented, with M YMW Club
members and their iponaon
(Tom the district.
The Rowan County YMW
Club served as host tor the ban
quet. A delicious meal was
served. Recreation was enjoyed
by *11 with the miuical enter
tainment presented by the
"Chin* Uugi" of Salisbury.
Anyone out of high ichool
between the age* of 18-plui are
invited to viiit the Watauga
YMW Club meetingi.
TRADE AT HOME
Hf 1ST
? 111 ~"~1
Macmillan speech stirs talk of
'83 election.
Erhard ban move to aelxe
rein* ahead of time.
m
Pianist finds V. S. music
gaining in Soviet.
? ;
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