AMAZING
ANIMALS
THE MARYLAND ZOO (TURTLE, BOTH); © PENNY COX (COW);
10 NAT GEO KIDS^ • JUNE / JULY^2019 LAURENT GESLIN / NATURE PICTURE LIBRARY (FOX)
Tu
r t
l e
Wa lks
W
he
el
With s
WANT TO
RACE?
Baltimore, Maryland
When a wild eastern box turtle arrived at the Maryland Zoo with a broken
bottom shell, caretakers wondered how to help. The vets could fix the
fracture, but how would they keep the shell off the ground to heal?
That’s when a vet student had an idea: a wheelchair made of Legos.
He sent sketches to a Lego-loving friend, and the two created a design
while the vets performed surgery on the turtle. A few weeks later, the
zoo’s medical team used putty to attach the DIY wheelchair to the
edges of the turtle’s top shell. “The minute we put the chair on, the turtle
took off,” lead veterinarian Ellen Bronson says. “You could tell it was
feeling better.”
The turtle will rest in an outdoor enclosure until its shell heals.
Someday the reptile won’t need its wheelchair anymore, and then it’ll
to go back to the wild. This turtle’s really on a roll! —Kitson Jazynka
IN THE LEGO
CONTRAPTION,
THE TURTLE CAN
DIG IN THE DIRT
AND MOVE AROUND
CHECK OUT EASILY.MY SWEET
RIDE.