A SLAC-ker and some of her mentors had an amazing adventure Labor Day weekend! Here’s a note from mentor Viviana Ricardez about what happened:

Ki and her first Macrochelys temminckii – Alligator snapping turtle (protected species). This is only the 3rd one ever found and documented in Tarrant County by Carl, Andrew and myself, which is a big discovery for us in the turtle world.

The kiddo came prepared for an adventure.

She successfully navigated a steep grade.

And she deftly moved over the rocky terrain.

She scoured the site for any sign of turtles.

Fortunately, the group found this fella. Look at that smile! 😉

Don’t forget, this SLAC-ker has had training from professionals about how to handle this type of turtle (meaning, don’t try this yourself).

She received another lesson in setting up a photo shoot for a wild animal. First lesson here. Another lesson here.

Here are the SLAC-ker’s pictures from this photo shoot (and some other turtles the team found that day).