Shellshocked

Tuesday is World Turtle Day. It has nothing to do with the Turtles of “Happy Together” fame, though band co-founder Mark “Flo” Volman recalls how fans just couldn’t believe there wasn’t a connection to the reptile. “I’m sure people never asked John Lennon if he knew about beetles,” he says. The turtle we love most isn’t threatened, as some are. A creation of Dr. Seuss (a.k.a Theodor Geisel of La Jolla), Yertle, above, is king of the pond on the Island of Sala-ma-Sond. As Dr. Seuss wrote, “All the turtles are free / As turtles and, maybe, all creatures should be.”