Critically Endangered
Around the World in 80 Days - Day 70
We only have 10 days left on our journey with Phileas Fogg to make it back to London and win the bet. We've made it to New York, so just need to head across the sea and get Phileas back home. These turtles are still to be found in New York as well as a few other states in Eastern US. They are the smallest turtle in North America. The biggest one ever recorded was only 4 ½ inches long, and they usually do not get that large. The female only lays 3-4 eggs every year. When they hatch they are about an inch long. They can live to be 60 years old or even older. Habitat loss and collecting for the black market pet trade are the biggest threats for these little turtles. In fact one source I saw talked about how someone posting a picture with location turned on could easily lead to poachers finding and removing a whole population of these turtles.
I was listening to a documentary just now, and there were a couple people with thick Scottish accents. to me, thick Scottish accent is the absolute best. You can talk about murder, or a sewage treatment plant and I will maybe not listen carefully to what you are saying, but will be enraptured by the sound of your voice. I do love several other accents, Irish and South African are also absolutely beautiful too, but Scottish is my favourite. I have a problem when I travel abroad, I pick up accents pretty well and I don't always realize it. My kids find it hilarious because for instance when I went to a movie set in Ireland, I came out of the theater with a bit of an accent. One time all it took was listening to a radio program on the way to take the kids to school and I started sounding as if I'd moved from Ireland maybe 20 years ago and had lost the majority of my accent. Most accents would take a bit more than a 20 minute car ride for me to pick up, but Irish is easier to slip into and harder to get out of for me. When I went to the UK as a Junior in University I started using a Canadian and a generic Southern US type accent just because I knew I was picking up accents and I was terrified someone would think I was doing it on purpose to mock them. I went back to the UK when my oldest was in 2nd grade. I stayed with a family where the wife is Canadian, and then eventually ended up with a couple in Yorkshire. I don't have the video anymore, but when I heard myself later I could barely recognize my voice because I had a weird combination of several accents. I managed not to keep the accent for too long once I got home, but it can take some real conscious work. If I'm having an especially hard time losing an accent I have to purposefully do another type of accent (usually Southern) to break myself out of it. So, if I ever hang out with you and you notice I'm starting to develop an accent, I'm not doing it on purpose, not trying to mock you, and if you mention it I will get flustered and then try very hard not to continue.
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