3-7-2022

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UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN IOWA CEDAR FALLS, IA THURSDAY, APRIL 5 VOLUME 114, ISSUE 42

CEDAR FALLS, IA

VOLUME 118, ISSUE 40

MONDAY, MARCH 7, 2022

OPINION

CAMPUS LIFE

SPORTS

OPINION PAGE 3

CAMPUS LIFE PAGE 4

SPORTS PAGE 6

Opinion columnist Lennon Jane discusses combatting financial insecurity for college students.

Men’s basketball falls short for Arch Madness.

TAIG hosted a video game themed event last Wednesday in the Admissions Welcome Center.

Making miracles at Dance Marathon

UNI Dance Marathon held their Big Event for the year Saturday in the WRC CAROLINE CHRISTENSEN News Editor

UNI Dance Marathon hosted their Big Event Saturday in the WRC, raising $150,895.11 for the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital in Iowa City. This was the first time Dance Marathon held the Big Event in the WRC. Dance Marathon members could rock climb, decorate cookies, bounce in bouncy houses, go on scavenger hunts, do crafts, win prizes and listen to family stories. Members also had the opportunity to cut their hair to be donated – one of Dance Marathon’s most treasured traditions. For more Dance Marathon TONI FORTMANN/Northern Iowan UNI Dance Marathon raised $150,895.11 for the Stead Family Children’s Hospital. Dance Marathon’s platform read, “Thank you again for an incredible photos, see page 5.

Snakes and lizards and turtles, oh my! year and event. We couldn’t do what we do without you. We’re excited for more memories and miracle making next year.”

A closer look inside McCollum’s reptile lab, and the creatures who live there ANNA STEVENS Staff Writer

Hiding in the McCollum science building are a couple rooms with cozy habitats for several reptiles and other animals. For around 20 years, UNI professor Jeff Tamplin, a herpetologist, has taken care of a group of reptiles – his focus being on wood turtles. Native to Iowa, wood turtles have become an endangered species. These turtles, when unharmed, may live to be 80 years old, with mature females infrequently laying 6-8 eggs at a time throughout their life. The problem is that nearly any animal bigger than a baby turtle will have it for a snack. Raccoons specifically use their strong sense of smell to find the turtle nests, scented by the mother’s urine, to track down and feast on the eggs. Female turtles also risk death when having to cross roads in order to find a nesting site of their liking. “Iowa is the most physically-altered state in the country, in terms of changing the landscape and converting the land,” said Tamplin. This has contributed to the difficulties

ANNA STEVENS/Northern Iowan

Student assistant Anna Carmen poses with a lizard in the reptile lab. Carmen has been with the reptile lab for two years.

of survival for the wood turtles. Tamplin has worked on preventing the extinction of wood turtles by following the mother turtle’s tracks to the nest, and bringing them to the lab. “It’s a race between us and the raccoons,” said Tamplin. Because of the raccoons’ scent-tracking, Tamplin and his crew are at a slight disadvantage, though this has not stopped them. The reptile

lab, sometimes called the turtle lab, houses hundreds of turtles from incubation until they are grown and strong enough to be released into the wild. “I think humans are responsible for this current mass extinction event,” said Tamplin, who has been devoting his time and effort to fixing this devastating circumstance. “What can I do to combat the fact that most people don’t care?” is the

ANNA STEVENS/Northern Iowan

Student assistant Jessica Haugen plays with a snake in the reptile lab. Haugen has been with the lab for two semesters.

question Tamplin asks himself. Within the reptile lab, student assistants Anna Carmen and Jessica Haugen split the tasks of caring for the ani-

mals. Haugen, a junior biology major with a chemistry minor, has been working in the lab for two semesters with her focus being on the turtles. See REPTILES, page 2


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