The Florida softshell turtle is a large turtle with a flattened, pancake-like body, a long neck, an elongated head with a long snorkel-like nose, and large webbed feet, each with three claws. While most turtles have hard shells composed of scutes, the Florida softshell turtle has a cartilaginous carapace covered in leathery skin. Ranging from olive green to dark brown, it has the darkest coloration of all the softshell species that inhabit Florida (other species include Apalone mutica calvata and Apalone spinifera aspera).
It is also characterized by a white or cream-colored underside. This color pattern is known as countershading and is a form of camouflage to conceal turtles from potential predators.
Giant Ground Sloth of Volusia County
Imagine a 13-foot, three to five ton mammal strolling through the city of Daytona Beach. Even though the sloth is a vegetarian, it would not change the fact that actually seeing the massive mammal would be quite terrifying. .
This Giant Ground Sloth was discovered in October 1975 at the bottom of a retention pond in Reed Canal Park, now referred to as “The Daytona Beach Bone Bed.” Workers and volunteers spend two-and-a-half years searching for the bones of the sloth. Once the remains had been excavated, Dr. Gordon Edmund, Curator of Paleontology at Canada’s Royal Ontario Museum, brought the remains up to Canada where he identified and reconstructed the sloth for the Museum of Art and Sciences.
