fear the turtle

This is the malaclemys terrapin, or diamondback terrapin. They can be found in salt marshes in a lot of places around the states, mainly down the east coast, including Chesapeake Bay, Maryland. They usually live for more than 20 years, grow to about nine inches, and do turtle like things. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, they were so abundant they were often used by landowners as a staple diet for their slaves. Later on they were considered a delicacy, and eaten in terrapin soup.

The terrapin population in Chesapeake Bay has recovered since those days, but now have to deal with things like pollution, increasing numbers of natural predators, being trapped in commercial nets, and becoming roadkill.

The terrapin was recommended as a mascot for the University of Maryland in 1932, in response to a student newspaper calling for suggestions for an “official” leader. Shortly afterwards, the Class of 1933 gave the university a bronze terrapin as their parting gift. The sculpture was revealed in May 1933 – the live terrapin that had been used as a model for the sculpture had a ribbon attached to it, which was in turn attached to the sheet covering the sculpture. As the terrapin crawled away, the sculpture was revealed. This sounds like it would have been like a good idea in theory, but the sort of thing that would have gone terribly wrong in practice. If I was a terrapin faced with a crowd of people, I’m sure I wouldn’t have obligingly walked towards them in order to reveal a statue of myself.

The sculpture, known as Testudo, quite commonly disappeared, and was the subject of all sorts of pranks and mis-happenings, and he ended up being stored away for a couple of years until 1951. Then he was replaced with greater security in front of the campus stadium, until the 1960s, when he was moved to live in front of the new library. He has a very shiny nose as well – rubbing it is supposed to bring good luck.

All of the Maryland sporting teams have been known as the Terrapins (or Terps, for shorter headlines) since then, making an interesting contrast to most other University mascots (bears, bison, tigers, wolves, broncos, bulldogs, cougars, eagles, lions, panthers…). The Diamondback Terrapin was made the State reptile, and official mascot of the University of Maryland in 1994.

The University started up the fear the turtle campaign a couple of years ago – based on the idea that the Uni is a force to be reckoned with in the classroom as well as on the field, and raising money for scholarships (a portion of the proceeds of merchandise sold goes towards terrapin conservation). Hence there are banners all over the Uni with this picture – and I thought Americans didn’t have a sense of humour.

There’s all sorts of merchandise emblazoned with the fear the turtle logo. Personally, I’m hanging out to buy my fear the turtle fan bracelet. I’ll let you know how it goes.