Toad's Tadpoles

05/29/2026

Cheri Sterman helps educators understand creativity and boost their creative confidence. She provides professional learning workshops, podcasts, and keynotes on Creative Leadership and The Power of Art to Reverse Stereotypes. Cheri and her colleagues worked with Dr. Gerard Puccio, Chair and Professo...

05/29/2026

Today is World Turtle Day. The turtle crossing your road this month may be older than you are.

Eastern box turtles can live past a hundred. Snapping turtles reach seventy or more. Painted turtles live forty to fifty years. They survive because adults live long enough to reproduce many times over decades.

🌿 That math breaks when an adult female is killed on a road. She crosses to nest because sunny road shoulders are often the best-drained, warmest nesting habitat available. She's choosing the best option for her eggs.

Most nests are destroyed by raccoons within days. Most hatchlings don't survive the first year. The population holds steady only because each female nests for decades.

🐾 If you see one crossing:

- Move her in the direction she was heading — she knows where she's going
- Pick up by the sides of the shell, not the tail
- Snapping turtles: slide a flat board or car mat underneath and drag gently
- If she's already across, leave her

The turtle on the road this morning has been navigating that route longer than the road has been there 🌿

05/29/2026

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05/29/2026

05/29/2026

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