Mascot Nominee: Squirt the Musk Turtle

 I nominate the smallest little baby musk turtle we saw on our very last herpetology field trip for our class mascot! The musk turtle, scientific name of Sternotherus odoratus, is part of the Kinosternidae family and are found throughout the eastern and south eastern United States in aquatic habitats. 

This turtle species has many characteristic features that can be used in identification, such as: barbels on the chin and neck, stripes from the nose to the neck, a reduced plastron, and rectangular pectoral scutes (while the mud turtle's is triangular). 

The class decided to name this baby Squirt, both because of his small size and in honor of the Pokémon Squirtle. This was the smallest turtle I have ever gotten to hold, but it had a very big personality! I nominate Squirt for our class mascot, because everyone loved him and he's so stinkin cute, he deserves it!