A tough day

Yesterday was a tough day for the keepers. Our very cool Eastern Spiny Softshell Turtle passed away. Sponge Bob, as we knew him, was highlighted in one of Marilyn’s Creature Features. He was a favorite of many of the keepers.

His body was taken to our diagnostic lab to be necropsied, which is standard protocol for all of our animals. This is to try to learn the cause of death, and to glean any information that might help us care for other or future animals in our collection.


We will all miss Sponge Bob, as will Museum visitors, who were always excited to see his long neck stretched out, or to get an up close look at his unique shell. Please leave us a comment if you have memories of Sponge Bob the Softshell Turtle; he was a great ambassador of his species.

5 responses to A tough day

  1. Valerie says:

    This is sad news. We will miss you! We always liked looking to see if we could find him in the tank, looking for his little nose peeking out of the sand.

  2. ErinH says:

    We just bonded last week. RIP SpongeBob. You were the highlight of my afternoon breaks!

  3. Sherry says:

    Anonymous:a veterinarian does the necropsies. Either on site by one of our consulting veterinarians, or we take the animal to the state lab in Raleigh and one of the veterinarians there does it. Sponge Bob went to Rollins (the state animal disease lab).

  4. Marilyn says:

    SpongeBob was one of the coolest animals ever… he was by far one of my favorite animals ever. He will be sorely missed by all of us.

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