Archie Carr Turtle Man. FSU Research in Review
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SUMMER/FALL 2007 49 BY FRANK STEPHENSON TURTLE MAN AN FSU HISTORIAN TELLS HOW THIS CAME TO BE, AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR SAVING WHAt’s lEFT OF THE ANIMAL PLANET. 14 Florida State University ResearchinReview SAVIng SEA TURTLES FROM EXTINCTION IS ON I CORPORAT ON I ERVAT S CON BBEAN I NOW A GLOBAL CAR PHOTO: CAmpAIgn, ROOTED IN FLORIDA A ND F THE LegACY O TURTLE ARCHIE CARR. LEGENDARY BIOLOGIST ARCHIE CARR pioneered the use of balloons to track turtle migrations in the early 1960s. AN FSU HISTORIAN TELLS HOW THIS CAME TO BE, AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR SAVING WHAt’s lEFT OF THE ANIMAL PLANET. SUMMER/FALL 2007 15 ARCHIE CArr — TurTLE MAN “Dey nevah finish, Don Archie. De tel-tel (turtle) nevah finish.” ith a bellyful of fresh-fried turtle meat and homemade turtle soup, Archie Carr got a lecture from his cook, a slight mulatto woman standing in her kitchen on the ebony beaches of Turtle Bogue. It was Carr’s first visit to this dark, remote strip of CostaR ican beach. Tales of Turtle Bogue’s famous connection with sea turtles had finally drawn the distinguished, 43-year-old biologist from his academic home in Florida. It was the summer of 1952. How long will the turtles last? Carr wanted to know. Since his arrival, he had wit- nessed the daily slaughter on the beaches of females lumbering ashore to lay their eggs; the frantic hunt by natives and feral dogs for the few eggs the turtles managed to bury before being captured or killed. To a seasoned scientist and woodsman with sensibilities honed since childhood about the fragility of nature, Carr chilled at what he foresaw for the docile sea creatures—a familiar equation of doom. Sibella was glad to feed a hungry Carr who had shown up unannounced in her door- way. But she’d have none of her friendly guest’s strange talk of the end of turtles. Turtles had been coming to her black beaches forever, and they always would. For her faith in the turtle’s future, Sibella evoked the great, trackless expanse of the sea. Nearly 30 summers later, Carr learned that the largest horde of nesting turtles seen in two decades had landed at Turtle Bogue (“Tortuguero” in Spanish). He recalled Sibella’s simple admonition—de turtles nevah finish—and was happy beyond words. Two months before he died in May for many years, kindred spirits conjoined by happened to be natives of Mobile, Alabama, 1987, at his home on Payne’s Prairie near uncanny similarities. Although 20 years his and steeped in the same cultural broth. Micanopy, Florida, a 78-year-old Carr sat junior, Wilson shared at a gut level Carr’s ex- Wilson called Carr an “archangel of the and listened as one of the world’s most traordinary passion for nature, his insight into international conservation movement.” He famous naturalists—Harvard’s E.O. Wil- the warp and weft of biological processes and lauded Carr’s battle to save the world’s sea son—paid public tribute to his friend and his gift for writing about these things in terms turtles from extinction. He credited him colleague. that anyone who enjoyed a good story could and his wife Marjorie for their “heroic” ef- Carr and Wilson had, in fact, been friends appreciate. Not insignificantly, the men also forts to “achieve sanity and balance” in their 16 Florida State University ResearchinReview HATCHLING TURTLES scuttle to the sea under the gaze of Archie Carr, ca. 1961. stomach cancer) Carr re- Carr’s legacy as an “old-school” natural- ceived one of the most dis- ist, prolific nature writer, pioneering conser- tinguished honors that can vationist, charismatic teacher and mentor befall any biologist—being was well established by the early 1970s. Yet named Eminent Ecologist remarkably, only now—on the 30th anniver- by the Ecological Society sary of his death—comes a proper biography of America—in a ceremony of the world-revered figure known simply as delivered at his bedside. The “the man who saved sea turtles.” award essentially affirmed Happily doing the honors is Frederick Carr’s stature as one of the Rowe Davis—“Fritz” to those who know greatest biologists of the 20th him—an assistant professor of history at FSU. century. He was cited for This summer, Oxford University Press released his “landmark studies on sea The Man Who Saved Sea Turtles: Archie Carr turtle reproductive biology and the Origins of Conservation Biology as ON Davis’ first book. It culminates Davis’ decade- I home state of Florida, which he called a and migrations,” his “tireless dedication to “microcosm of the disappearing tropical en- conservation,” and his “uncanny ability to long fascination with Carr and his life’s work vironment.” Wilson concluded with a salute communicate the excitement and the music that began during his undergraduate training ON CORPORAT I to Carr’s adept way with words, which he of ecology” to the public. in the history of science at Harvard. said made “many of our best natural history All told, in addition to more than 120 “I’ve always been a naturalist myself, ERVAT S writers seem like callow journalists.” scientific papers and magazine articles, at his very interested in the natural world,” Davis A few days before his death (from death Carr had written nearly a dozen popular said, explaining his interest in researching BBEAN CON I books on subjects ranging from snakes to zoo- Carr’s life. “When I started reading Carr’s logical adventures in Africa—and most of these books I found that he had exactly the kind published in the last 25 years of his life. of perspective on natural history I’ve had PHOTO: CAR PHOTO: TANYARD S Y RA PHOTO: PHOTO: FREDErick “Fritz” ROWE DAVIS SUMMER/FALL 2007 17 ARCHIE CArr — TurTLE MAN OUTDOORS BORN: clockwise from upper left: Carr with shotgun and pointer, ca. 1928; sailing for fun, ca. 1960; campfire scene in Mexico, ca. 1940; with a shot- gunned quetzel in Honduras, ca. 1947 most of my life. I’ve always been interested the eldest son of a man who may very well city’s busy docks as a stevedore, back-break- in figures who managed to transcend science have loved to hunt and fish more than he ing work that the young Carr made more and reach out to the broader public. Archie loved his calling as a Presbyterian minister. palatable by picking up the singsong language Carr, along with Rachel Carson, managed to Born on June 16, 1909, in Mobile, used by the many black men he worked with. do that in significant ways.” Archibald Fairly Carr, Jr. soon took to the Born with an ear for language, Carr soon After joining FSU’s history faculty in woods and streams with his dad and learned became proficient in the Gullah and Geechee 2002, Davis renewed a long-held interest in to fish from a rowboat. When he turned 8, dialects that to some extent still color the Carr and traveled to Gainesville where Carr the family moved to Fort Worth, Texas, and region to this day. had spent his entire, 56-year career, begin- later to Savannah, Georgia, where young Carr’s first shot at higher ed was Davidson ning as a student in 1932. To his delight, Archie, by now a crack shot with both rifle College in North Carolina, but operations on he learned that the University of Florida’s and shotgun, helped his dad put duck, tur- his arm forced him to drop out for two years. main library held a complete archive of Carr’s key, quail and deer on the table. He later enrolled at Weaver College where papers—63 boxes of them, in fact, stretching On a fishing trip when he was 16,A rchie he wound up with a Cuban roommate—a 40 linear feet. Davis soon dug in. contracted osteomyelitis in his right arm, and fateful meeting. Like a sponge, Carr soaked “As I began to read his correspondence, I the disease, coupled with the limited medical up his roomie’s native tongue and soon was found the story getting richer and richer,” he options of the day, left the arm permanently on the way to becoming fluent in Spanish, recalled. And the best part of the story? bent at the elbow—a disfigurement that a skill that would pay enormous dividends “No one had written it.” would become a well known Archie Carr throughout his career. trademark. To Archie’s surprise and delight, Carr’s dad soon chose a hunting and EARLY YEARS the crooked arm improved his wing shot. fishing paradise for his retirement: U matilla, As his appreciation of Archie Carr’s exem- In Savannah High School, Archie dis- Florida—a tiny community in the middle of plary life took shape, Davis soon realized played talents in writing composition and a vast, lake-filled wilderness on the edge of that nothing had influenced the man more in acting—starring in lead roles in several what would become the Ocala National For- powerfully than the way he’d grown up—as plays. During summers, he worked the port est. Young Archie spent a quarter at nearby 18 Florida State University ResearchinReview AT CAMBRIDGE, ca. 1941 Rollins College before enrolling in the spring entire chapter of his biography, “Dear Dr. of 1932 as a senior, majoring in English, at Barbour,” to detailing the profound impact the University of Florida. After a biology that Barbour had on Carr’s career. field trip to collect critters living in water “Barbour played so many roles in Carr’s hyacinth floating in giant mats on nearby life—he was a mentor, a parent figure, col- lakes, Carr was hooked.