Dr. Goodman and 3 students from the Herpetology BIO 385 class recently attended the annual Southeastern Partners in Amphibian & Reptile Conservation meeting. The SEPARC meeting was held during Feb 18-21 at Camp Ocala in the Ocala National Forest, Florida. We got to see some great talks and posters, network with scientists and conservation practitioners, attend workshops, and more…

Our rustic cabins with … Bunks!

We got to take canoes out on Sellars Lake, which is right next to the campground

Lots of great research posters and local species of herps to learn about (baby gopher tortoise here).

Crocodile hunters!!  Allen Luck, Sam Smith, Dr. Rachel Goodman

Sam Smith, Allen Luck, Dr. Rachel Goodman, Erica Rutherford

We also took a short detour to see a large group of manatees that comes into a natural hot spring to warm up in this chilly weather. The count that day was 176, up from only a dozen before the area was protected in the 1970’s. Definitely worth the trip to Blue Spring National Park– a must if you’re near Orlando!  We were close enough to touch them, though we didn’t (see sign on below-left; below-right photo source: USFWS Digital Library).