The Nordic Ark, July 12th 2008. Part Ten

One thing that I was really excited about seeing - after reading about the animals the Ark's got, on their website - was Chinemys nigricans, the red-necked pond turtle. I was really psyched about getting the chance to see this species. Partly because I've never seen it; any species I haven't seen is interesting. :-) But mainly it was in part because it's quite rare, and in part because nigricans is closely related to one of the species that I keep, Chinemys reevesii. I was so excited about the chance to see these relatives of my own little guys. But alas, I was to be disappointed.

It turns out that the Ark doesn't have nigricans. Not at all. Not even one tiny little one. :-( Even though it says on their website that they have them. Weirdness! But I think I have the explanation. The Wetlands is very new. And my guess is that they set up the info on the website back when they were making up the list of the animals they were planning to acquire. Then for some reason they decided against nigricans at the last minute. Either because they couldn't get them after all, or because they got the chance at something they would rather have. They have limited space in the reptile house, and any Chinemys would need to be kept indoors. So they ended up with the wrong info on the site. That's my guess, anyway. I think it makes sense. :-)

Anyway! I was sorely disappointed. But not for long. Because I soon discovered the first of the two wonderful surprises that lay in store for me - species that they do have that are not listed on the site. The first one was a relatively common species that I was totally thrilled to see anyway - Chelodina longicollis, the common snake-neck turtle. They have longicollis!! I was SO psyched! :-D Sure, it's not a rare species - in fact it isn't even endangered - but it was so cool to see it anyway, because I'd never seen this species, or even any side-necked turtle species, in the flesh before. So I was thrilled. At first I thought there was only one ... and then I thought I'd spotted two ... and then suddenly there were three! :-) They were all juveniles (unsurprisingly).

Just a couple of not very good pictures to start. ;-) I was staring into the enclosure, almost freaking, thinking I'vegottoseethemupcloseI'vegottoseethemupclose ... !!!

(Photo credit: me)