Everyone loves turtles. And no wonder: long-lived, unhurried, and ancient, these shelled reptiles are fascinating. Turtles are also endlessly surprising. There are turtles with soft shells, turtles with googly eyes, turtles with necks longer than their bodies, and turtles whose shells glow in the dark! Now, readers can meet more than 300 types of turtles in the beautiful new compendium, THE BOOK OF TURTLES by New York Times bestselling wildlife author Sy Montgomery and illustrator Matt Patterson. On site at the Santa Barbara Zoo - Sy and Matt can answer your questions about turtles and share the wisdom these long-lived animals can offer. Turtles, who evolved at the same time as the dinosaurs, are some of the most diverse, fascinating, and beloved species on the planet, though they now face the deadliest dangers of their more than 240-million-year history. Researching her articles, films, scripts, and 33 books, National Book Award finalist Sy Montgomery has scuba-dived with sharks, cuddled with octopuses, slept next to a mother hippo and her baby, and been undressed by a wild orangutan. To inform this book, she and artist Matt Patterson helped rescue cold-stunned sea turtles on Cape Cod, raised baby painted turtles for release into the wild, and provided physical therapy for an injured, 42-pound wild snapping turtle named Fire Chief. They still regularly patrol a nesting site for native New England turtles against predators and volunteer at Turtle Rescue League in southern Massachusetts. Matt Patterson will do almost anything to make his paintings of wild animals as accurate and lifelike as possible. He’s been bitten by snapping turtles, caught alligators with his bare hands from a kayak, camped in the Everglades, traveled to Madagascar and Central America, and visited 48 US states. Matt's vivid, lifelike art has won national and international acclaim, including the Golden Turtle Award and the Roger Tory Peterson Wild American Art Award. He is grateful to use his talent to not only raise awareness about these gorgeous animals but help keep them alive on the planet we human newcomers are lucky to share with them.
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