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TURTLES: Researchers with the National Park Service, Sonoma State University and the San Francisco Zoo have been collecting data on western pond turtles in Point Reyes—including weighing the animals, measuring carapaces and eggs and tracking—as part of a project to reintroduce the reptile to areas in southern Marin like Redwood Creek, where they were recently discovered to be extirpated. As seashore biotechnician Tim Bernot weighed one specimen recently, he praised California’s only native freshwater turtle. “The exotic turtles will bite you. These are very gentle native turtles,” he said.   Samantha Kimmey