Botany Pond update

After the question about where the fish go when the pond is frozen, I emailed Lorna Straus -- Professor Emeritus of Organismal Biology and Anatomy in the Biological Sciences Collegiate Division, former Dean of Students in the College, and University Marshal -- to ask her where the fish and turtles go. Here is her response, and she's asking a colleague to write a little history of Botany Pond for us after he's done grading papers.

But in answer to what may be the most urgent question: No [the pond does not need to be restocked every spring]. The turtles dig themselves into the ground and survive quietly and well until it warms up. They will be emerging in a couple of weeks. The goldfish survive in the water under the ice. The ice is gone, after yesterday, the fish are swimming around today.

Yes, folks, it was 70 degrees yesterday, and humid, enough to melt all that ice Austin was standing on. Today we had a high of 63, but it is cloudy and temperature is falling. It should be in the 40s or 50s for the rest of the week.



This was taken in May a few years ago... no lily pads yet.