March 18th and 19th the Blanding’s turtles traveled to either Zoo New England or the New England Aquarium for their very own field trip!. The turtles were not going to visit or explore either facility instead the turtles visited the veterinarians who performed laparoscopic procedures to determine their sex. Not surprising all the hatchlings were female! Dr. Windmiller along with many of the 4th grade students predicted that their would be a high percentage of females this year. Blanding’s turtles display temperature-dependent sex
determination. This means that eggs that are incubated between 79.7-86°F produce males, and higher temperatures produce females (Ewert and Nelson 1991). Teachers and students analyzed the 2013 Headstarting data to predict the sex of their turtles.
Every Student a Scientist 