{"id":999,"date":"2013-06-26T21:00:36","date_gmt":"2013-06-27T01:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.okraparadisefarms.com\/blog\/?p=999"},"modified":"2013-06-26T21:02:39","modified_gmt":"2013-06-27T01:02:39","slug":"francine-the-florida-softshell-turtle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.okraparadisefarms.com\/blog\/2013\/06\/francine-the-florida-softshell-turtle.html","title":{"rendered":"Francine the Florida Softshell Turtle"},"content":{"rendered":"

\r\nFrancine out for a walk between the creek and the house:\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n\"Nose\"<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\nSpecies Profile: Florida Softshell (Apalone ferox) | SREL Herpetology<\/a>\r\n

\r\nLike other softshells, the Florida softshell turtle (Apalone ferox)\r\nis a large, flat turtle with skin covering its shell (resembling a\r\npancake). It is the bulkiest of the softshell turtles but inhabits\r\nthe smallest range. It varies in size with males measuring from 6-12\r\ninches (15-30 cm) and females measuring double that at 11-24 inches\r\n(28-61 cm). Adults are usually colored by a dark brown to\r\nbrownish-gray with dark spots. Also there are usually small dark\r\nbumps on the carapace. In juveniles these dark bumps on the carapace\r\nare much more easily seen, as they are usually lighter in color than\r\nthe adults. The carapace of the Florida softshell is covered with\r\nlongitudinal rows of tubercles that resemble ridges in younger\r\nturtles but are less evident in larger turtles. In adult turtles the\r\nplastron of the shell usually extends farther than the carapace.\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n\r\n

\r\n\r\n\"In<\/a>\r\n\r\n\"Closer\"<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nPlaying possum:\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n\"Still\"<\/a>\r\n\r\n\"Side\"<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nBug eyes:\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n\"Bug<\/a>\r\n\r\n\"Front\"<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nTop:\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n\"Top\"<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nShe does look a bit like one of the waddlebeasts from\r\n\r\nthe movie, the Fifth Element<\/a>:\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n\"Head\"<\/a>\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nSomebody called Francine ugly! Can you imagine that?\r\nSuch a shiny thing she is:\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n\"Left\"<\/a>\r\n
\r\nPictures by John S. Quarterman for Okra Paradise Farms,\r\n
Lowndes County, Georgia, 2013-06-25.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n -jsq\r\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Francine out for a walk between the creek and the house: Species Profile: Florida Softshell (Apalone ferox) | SREL Herpetology Like other softshells, the Florida softshell turtle (Apalone ferox) is a large, flat turtle with skin covering its shell (resembling a pancake). It is the bulkiest of the softshell turtles but inhabits the smallest range. […]","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[6,196,2354],"tags":[2356,2358,2357,2359,3,23,5,2,2760,2806,2360],"class_list":["post-999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-okra-paradise-farms","category-reptiles","category-softshell-turtle","tag-2013-06-25","tag-apalone-ferox","tag-florida-softshell-turtle","tag-francine","tag-georgia","tag-gretchen-quarterman","tag-john-s-quarterman","tag-lowndes-county","tag-okra-paradise-farms","tag-reptiles","tag-softshell-turtle-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Gj0O-g7","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.okraparadisefarms.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.okraparadisefarms.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.okraparadisefarms.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.okraparadisefarms.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.okraparadisefarms.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=999"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.okraparadisefarms.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/999\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1001,"href":"http:\/\/www.okraparadisefarms.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/999\/revisions\/1001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.okraparadisefarms.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.okraparadisefarms.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.okraparadisefarms.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}