Turtley enough for your turtle club?

My colleagues have been joking with me that I’m starting to take over the “zoo beat.”

Last week, I got the chance to head down to Des Moines’ Blank Park Zoo to meet with some very small, very important residents — and a personal meeting with the mayor.

The mayor of the zoo, that is.

Let’s back up. In the cloudy headspace that was the day after the election, I saw a press release from the zoo: Amid the 2024 presidential election, they held their own cheeky contest. Instead of donkeys vs. elephants, this race was between a lion, a snow monkey and a 6-year-old porcupine.

I jumped on the story. After following the Trump, Biden Harris campaigns for months, let’s just say this quick story was a refreshing change of pace.

Then, my colleague Rachel Cramer picked up a story on Blandings turtles, a threatened species that’s native to Iowa and part of a rehabilitation project — also at the Blank Park Zoo

.While snapping photos of the palm-sized turtle hatchlings, I chatted with Aquatics Supervisor Dana Lain about her work with the turtles and our small-town connection – Kirk Embree, an aquarist who worked with Lain at the zoo before coming to teach aquarium sciences at my high school.

I didn’t grow up to become a marine biologist, but that class did get me my first journalism byline — with Reef Hobbyist Magazine.

It all comes full circle, doesn’t it? Make sure to read about the cool work going on to give this turtle species a boost from Rachel, with photos from me!

So, am I turtley enough for the turtle club?

📝This text originally appeared in the Nov. 23 edition of Iowa Public Radio’s Chatter newsletter, in which I talk about our reporting, the media in general, pop culture and other things that are on my mind, plus download the week’s news, offer recommendations and occasionally post silly little guys.