University of Maryland College Park - Terrapin / Reveille Yearbook (College Park, MD)

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College Park

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This book is dedicated to the extinct species which once inhabited planet Earth. May the rest of us postpone join- ing them for as long as possible. A. B. Shields of the carapace (A) and plastron (B) NORTHERN DIAMONDBACK TERRAPIN Malaclemmys terrapin terrapin Could you go for a hot bowl of turtle soup right now? How about some candied turtle eggs? If these delicacies don ' t appeal to you, you ' re part of the reason for the growing terrapin population. There are reasons for differing terminology describ- ing turtles. A tortoise stays strictly on land, his stump- shaped limbs being unsuited for anything else. A terra- pin, on the other hand, is a fresh or brackish water beast which supports whole industries with its valuable meat. All others are called turtles. Turtles have played interesting roles in folk lore through the ages. They have been worshipped by ancient civilizations, honored as the symbol of longevity and righteousness in old China, associated with virtuous women in Shakespeare and in Greek mythology, and depended on as determiner of Chinese rulers, who read cracks in scorched turtle shells for this information. Fossil remains suggesting that turtles are perhaps the oldest living animal have been found from pre-dinosaur days. Probably the largest land tortoise known, and cer- tainly the largest North American species, was Testudo lourisekressmanni, whose shell was over seven feet long. Testudo, we salute you! And to the Northern Diamondback Terrapin, who likes to bask on a sunny day, who hibernates in mud bottoms of streams and ponds, whose young are adept escape artists, and who, with man ' s waning desire for its highly favored meat, may live to over 40 years — STOLAT! — Drawings from the Chesapeake Biological Laborotory of the University of Maryland pomphlet, Maryland Turtles by Dr. Frank Schwartz.

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' Somewhere between Washington and Baltimore ... Maps courtesy of the Office of University Relations, 2119 Main Administration Building.