PINCKNEY, Mich. (AP) — There were high-fives and a celebratory bottle of wine. Why? Researchers found an 83-year-old turtle.
The University of Michigan says researchers this week recaptured a Blanding’s turtle at the E.S. George Reserve in Livingston County, 25 miles from campus. The female was first captured and marked in 1954 as part of a long-running turtle study.
Justin Congdon, a retired professor from the University of Georgia, has studied turtles for decades. In a statement, he says it’s been a goal to find one of the turtles marked back in the 1950s. There may be less than 15.
The elderly turtle was measured, examined and returned to a swampy area. It still has eggs, and biologists say it could live past 100.
