Florida Softshell at Royal Palm, Everglades National Park

This turtle is about 14" long. It was sunning itself on a shelf of rock that was exposed nearly a century ago when they built the Ingraham Highway to what was then Royal Palm State Park. Most roads in south Florida were built on roadbed built up by "borrowing" rock from land adjacent to the road, and the resultant "borrow ponds" and canals are magnets for swamp critters.


This turtle is about 14" long. It was sunning itself on a shelf of rock that was exposed nearly a century ago when they built the Ingraham Highway to what was then Royal Palm State Park. Most roads in south Florida were built on roadbed built up by "borrowing" rock from land adjacent to the road, and the resultant "borrow ponds" and canals are magnets for swamp critters.

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