The 14-year-old is following in his father's footsteps in working with the reptiles.
11/21/2007
You can't say the precocious East Arlington youngster was slow in discovering his passion.
In fact, 14-year-old Rick Schaffer came out of his shell quite early in finding a subject that intrigued his curious and scientific mind.
He fell in love with tortoises. Well, at least in love with learning everything he could about the physiology of the unique, shelled reptile that was methodically roaming the earth eons before humans - eons, in fact, before mammals existed.
Schaffer's interest in tortoises - particularly the 3-foot-long Asian giant tortoise - is so great he was recently selected one of 40 national finalists in the Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge, narrowed from a field of more than 7,000 brainy competitors.
The Stanton College Preparatory School freshman is full of knowledge about the animals:
The humble tortoise, he suggests, might be plodding the earth well after humans have taken a hike.
They aren't really that slow.
"If defending their territory, they'll charge you quite aggressively. ... Just let them see a good food source. They'll be there in a flash."
And what are the food sources Schaffer provides for his tortoise pals, such as his two favorites, "Chomp" and "Tabin"?
"Oh they can eat a ton. Don't let anyone fool you," he said. "Some really enjoy pizza - oh, and soy chocolate chip cookies. You should see them eat."
Schaffer should know about their eating habits, and, for that matter, every other habit. For one thing, he's been around tortoises since he was knee-high to a box turtle. His dad is a well-known herpetologist, turtle expert and author on the subject.
And he has about 80 tortoises and turtles in his backyard near the Intracoastal.
Schaffer is fascinated with big tortoises, particularly the Asian giant tortoise, though he commonly refers to it as manouria - as in: "Manouria is among the most primitive tortoises and, interestingly, has the largest egg clutch of any tortoise, laying as many as 70 eggs at a time." Honest. That's how he talks, at least about Manouria emys (which is, he points out, the complete scientific name).
Burmese Brown Tortoise Manouria emys emys
In the Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge, the 40 finalists will soon attend an all-expense paid trip to Washington, D.C., to tackle some of the planet's most significant environmental challenges.
Dubbed Operation Green, the 40 finalists will compete for discretionary experiential awards and to win more than $40,000 in scholarship money, with the top student winning a $20,000 scholarship.
Schaffer, who is in the International Baccalaureate program at Stanton, has a long history of top honors for his zoological projects at science fairs, starting at Jacksonville Beach Elementary, where he placed first in the school science fair and in intervening years made it to the regional science fair each time.
Last spring, while an eighth-grader at James Weldon Johnson Middle School, Schaffer placed first in zoology at the Florida State Science Fair, receiving the Discovery Channel Young Scientist Award at both the Regional and State competitions.
And he was the youngest speaker ever to present at both the UF Herpetology Conference and the Symposium on the Biology and Conservation of Tortoises and Fresh Water Turtles.
The herpetologically minded teenager's dad, Chuck Schaffer, is editor of the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) Turtle and Tortoise Newsletter, and is involved with many other reptile conservation groups. To say he's proud of his award-winning chip off the ol' block would be a serious understatement.
"He's smart and he works hard," his dad said. "But I think what I'm proudest of is how he supports everyone else at the conferences he's attended, even working behind the scenes to help the audio-visual folks, just doing whatever he can to chip in. And with his interest in this subject, he's really beginning to shine."
Caption: Rick Schaffer, 14, of East Arlington shows one his favorite tortoises to brother Max, 7, and sister Lauren, 10.
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11/21/2007
You can't say the precocious East Arlington youngster was slow in discovering his passion.
In fact, 14-year-old Rick Schaffer came out of his shell quite early in finding a subject that intrigued his curious and scientific mind.
He fell in love with tortoises. Well, at least in love with learning everything he could about the physiology of the unique, shelled reptile that was methodically roaming the earth eons before humans - eons, in fact, before mammals existed.
Schaffer's interest in tortoises - particularly the 3-foot-long Asian giant tortoise - is so great he was recently selected one of 40 national finalists in the Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge, narrowed from a field of more than 7,000 brainy competitors.
The Stanton College Preparatory School freshman is full of knowledge about the animals:
The humble tortoise, he suggests, might be plodding the earth well after humans have taken a hike.
They aren't really that slow.
"If defending their territory, they'll charge you quite aggressively. ... Just let them see a good food source. They'll be there in a flash."
And what are the food sources Schaffer provides for his tortoise pals, such as his two favorites, "Chomp" and "Tabin"?
"Oh they can eat a ton. Don't let anyone fool you," he said. "Some really enjoy pizza - oh, and soy chocolate chip cookies. You should see them eat."
Schaffer should know about their eating habits, and, for that matter, every other habit. For one thing, he's been around tortoises since he was knee-high to a box turtle. His dad is a well-known herpetologist, turtle expert and author on the subject.
And he has about 80 tortoises and turtles in his backyard near the Intracoastal.
Schaffer is fascinated with big tortoises, particularly the Asian giant tortoise, though he commonly refers to it as manouria - as in: "Manouria is among the most primitive tortoises and, interestingly, has the largest egg clutch of any tortoise, laying as many as 70 eggs at a time." Honest. That's how he talks, at least about Manouria emys (which is, he points out, the complete scientific name).
Burmese Brown Tortoise Manouria emys emys
In the Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge, the 40 finalists will soon attend an all-expense paid trip to Washington, D.C., to tackle some of the planet's most significant environmental challenges.
Dubbed Operation Green, the 40 finalists will compete for discretionary experiential awards and to win more than $40,000 in scholarship money, with the top student winning a $20,000 scholarship.
Schaffer, who is in the International Baccalaureate program at Stanton, has a long history of top honors for his zoological projects at science fairs, starting at Jacksonville Beach Elementary, where he placed first in the school science fair and in intervening years made it to the regional science fair each time.
Last spring, while an eighth-grader at James Weldon Johnson Middle School, Schaffer placed first in zoology at the Florida State Science Fair, receiving the Discovery Channel Young Scientist Award at both the Regional and State competitions.
And he was the youngest speaker ever to present at both the UF Herpetology Conference and the Symposium on the Biology and Conservation of Tortoises and Fresh Water Turtles.
The herpetologically minded teenager's dad, Chuck Schaffer, is editor of the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) Turtle and Tortoise Newsletter, and is involved with many other reptile conservation groups. To say he's proud of his award-winning chip off the ol' block would be a serious understatement.
"He's smart and he works hard," his dad said. "But I think what I'm proudest of is how he supports everyone else at the conferences he's attended, even working behind the scenes to help the audio-visual folks, just doing whatever he can to chip in. And with his interest in this subject, he's really beginning to shine."
Caption: Rick Schaffer, 14, of East Arlington shows one his favorite tortoises to brother Max, 7, and sister Lauren, 10.
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