Scientists and environmentalists work hard to save animals from becoming extinct. But there's another effort underway to study a species perceived to be abundant: turtles.
ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST: Often when animals are mentioned in the news, it's because they're either dangerous or endangered. Our next story, though, is about turtles that seem to be doing just fine. And that's why a group of researchers is traveling the country to study them. They were recently in Austin, Texas, and that's where Mose Buchele from member station KUT caught up with them.</s>MOSE BUCHELE, BYLINE: By the end of this story, three guys get bit by turtles, and a turtle gets a tattoo. But we're going to start here with Andrew Walde. He is on the shores of Bull Creek in Austin, reflecting on his childhood in Canada.</s>ANDREW WALDE: I grew up in a turtle-less world.</s>MOSE BUCHELE, BYLINE: It was an unlikely start for the head of the Turtle Survival Alliance.</s>ANDREW WALDE: Here I am 20 years later, leading an international group doing turtle work all over the world.</s>MOSE BUCHELE, BYLINE: Walde and other self-described turtle nerds came to Austin to measure, weigh and microchip turtles. It's part of a project to see how their populations change over time. Joining him was Carl Franklin of the University of Texas at Arlington.</s>CARL FRANKLIN: I'm a herpetologist and card-carrying turtle fanatic.</s>MOSE BUCHELE, BYLINE: And Eric Munscher, head of the alliance's Freshwater Turtle Research Group.</s>ERIC MUNSCHER: Our goal is long-term monitoring of species that are perceived to be abundant.</s>CARL FRANKLIN: I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that science is a nice crutch for a bunch of useless SOBs to get out and have fun on a work day.</s>MOSE BUCHELE, BYLINE: Either way, let's dive in. Munscher stays on shore. Walde, Franklin and others put on snorkels and scour the creek for turtles. Walde's the first to get snapped.</s>ANDREW WALDE: I just stuck my hand under, and he's like (imitating turtle bite).</s>MOSE BUCHELE, BYLINE: And they're hauling in mesh bags full of turtles, pouring them in buckets, coolers, little blue recycling bins. The team plans to return here three or four times a year. They'll see how the turtles have grown, how many are still in this location. Carl Franklin says monitoring the area will reveal more about these species in general.</s>CARL FRANKLIN: Hopefully all the data and information and stuff we record will be available for nerds a hundred years, 200 years down the line.</s>MOSE BUCHELE, BYLINE: They find musk turtles, map turtles, red-eared sliders. But Eric Munscher says one kind eludes them - a Guadalupe spiny softshell.</s>ERIC MUNSCHER: They're just a harder turtle to come by, harder to catch overall because they're fast.</s>MOSE BUCHELE, BYLINE: Then...</s>ERIC MUNSCHER: Oh, is it over here?</s>MOSE BUCHELE, BYLINE: They get one. Munscher taps it. It's rubbery and rough like sandpaper.</s>ERIC MUNSCHER: They actually have a shell. It's just overlaid with flesh.</s>MOSE BUCHELE, BYLINE: Speaking of flesh...</s>ERIC MUNSCHER: Ow.</s>MOSE BUCHELE, BYLINE: Oh, no, did you get bit?</s>ERIC MUNSCHER: Oh, yeah.</s>MOSE BUCHELE, BYLINE: Bite number two. These researchers usually cut a notch in the shell to mark turtles they've microchipped, but with soft shells, that injures the turtle. So...</s>MOSE BUCHELE, BYLINE: This little guy is going to get a tattoo.</s>ERIC MUNSCHER: You're going to get a tattoo (laughter).</s>MOSE BUCHELE, BYLINE: But before that, they haul in one of the biggest snapping turtles I've ever seen. And you can guess what happens. This time Franklin gets bit - fortunately for him only a small nip.</s>CARL FRANKLIN: I hope that was on video.</s>MOSE BUCHELE, BYLINE: Unfortunately I was taking still photos.</s>MOSE BUCHELE, BYLINE: So this is the sound of a turtle getting a notch sawed in its shell.</s>CARL FRANKLIN: It might be kind of like if you go to the dentist and have a scraping, you know, just kind of a momentary sort of ick but nothing traumatic.</s>MOSE BUCHELE, BYLINE: But for our softshell...</s>MOSE BUCHELE, BYLINE: What are you going to put on it?</s>ERIC MUNSCHER: Number one.</s>MOSE BUCHELE, BYLINE: Why is that?</s>ERIC MUNSCHER: Because this is the first softshell that we've actually caught at this site.</s>MOSE BUCHELE, BYLINE: After the animals are weighed and measured and implanted with a microchip, Carl Franklin sends them on their way.</s>CARL FRANKLIN: There she goes (laughter).</s>MOSE BUCHELE, BYLINE: Well, maybe we'll see you again, turtle.</s>MOSE BUCHELE, BYLINE: And if we do, everybody watch your fingers. For NPR News, I'm Mose Buchele in Austin, Texas.