Alexandra Hays (Former Employee)

A cold-stunned green sea turtle near St. Joseph Bay, Florida moments before rescue by U.S. Geological Survey staff members January 23, 2024. The animals were pulled from fatal water temperatures off the coast of Florida and from beaches in a collaborative rescue event by the USGS, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and the U.S.

Cold-stunned green sea turtles rescued from fatal water temperatures in St. Joseph Bay, Florida by U.S. Geological Survey staff members are held temporarily in a crate before being transferred to Gulf World Marine Institute for rehabilitation and medical treatment January 23, 2024. 

An adult female River Cooter, left, and an adult female federally-Threatened Ringed Map Turtle, right, bask in the sun near Covington, Louisiana. (Courtesy photo). 

A young federally Threatened Ringed Map Turtle basks on a log near Covington, Louisiana. (Courtesy photo). 

Aidan Ford, a citizen-scientist, holds up two juvenile Ringed Map Turtles during fieldwork with the U.S. Geological Survey, on May 5, 2023 on the Bouge Falaya river, in Louisiana. (Courtesy photo). 

This photo, taken by teenager Aidan Ford in 2021 of a Ringed Map Turtle near Covington, Louisiana, led to the conformation of a second, previously-unknown population of the species. (Photo courtesy of Aidan Ford).