In 2006, the University of Maryland sponsored a series of Testudo sculptures along with W*USA 9 and WJZ 13 TV to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the school. Fifty of these four and one half foot works of art were part of a statewide "Fear the Turtle" scavenger hunt that spanned Maryland and the District of Columbia. These beauties stood tall in their various locales for the entire summer and were auctioned off that Fall. Some still dot the UMD campus to this day.

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What does this have to do with first-year graduate students? Nothing...except that while admiring these fabulous mascots of yore you will have the opportunity to see where different buildings are on campus and where some surrounding communities are in the larger Maryland area. That's more fun than staring at a boring old map, right? Still want a boring old map? Download the original scavenger hunt PDF and see where the Testudos lived.