The daunting yet loveable face of the Mississippi Map Turtle, Graptemys kohnii. This large female was crossing the road near the Nursery Pond in my home county. I don't know where she was headed but I'm sure she moved on. We have several Map Turtles in the state and it is a confusing mess. The MMT (this gal) does consistently have the yellow arc behind the eye. It is partially hidden here with the head drawn in. But the status of the false map and true map species in Arkansas is complicated by hybridization in our state.

A young Softshell turtle of the Florida variety, Apalone ferox. There are three major species with the Florida being the most limited in distribution. It is darker and tends to favor the clear water lakes and canals of Florida. The Smooth Softshell, Apalone mutica, is probably the most common locally and otherwise Arkansas is at the juncture of about three subspecies of the Spiny Softshell, Apalone spinifera. Smoothies have round nostrils and Spiny species have slotted nostrils. Juveniles of all species are much more strongly marked.

A whopping excellent Gopher Tortoise, Gopherus polyphemus. I did not measure the shell length but it was easily over twelve to fourteen inches. These are protected creatures in Florida where they can be found in the open brushy areas just about anywhere. One of the things worth running down to the peninsula for.

A female Eastern River Cooter, Pseudeyms concinna. We stumbled on two of these on this day in mid-June laying eggs in various areas in the Pinnacle State Park area. Note the lack of the red ear and the very intricate shell markings. Only in egglaying time do we get to see them up close and not out on a river or lake log.