Nature CSI-Who killed Turtle?

The crime scene...

This painted turtle was found on the shore of the lake. Notice the white ball of stuff on the right next to the turtle. We will take a closer look at that next.

What else can we gather...it is a female turtle because there is no indentation on the rear end of the bottom shell.

There are no cracks in the shell. After we finish looking on this side, we will flip her over to make sure there are no cracks on the other side.



Let's take a closer look at the white ball...

Looks like maggots (the larval stage of the common fly). So we can tell that the carcass has been here for awhile as the larvae hatch from eggs within 8 to 20 hours.

Now let's turn her over and look at the other side of the shell.

There are no cracks on this side either but there is a little damage to the shell that looks recent on the top edge.



So...

WHO DO YOU THINK KILLED OUR FEMALE TURTLE?

Give me a post with your ideas or check back in a few days for the answer.

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