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| Photo from Adopt-a-Pond at Toronto Zoo |
When I think about
turtles, the first things to come to mind are that they are slow and that
they’ve been on Earth for forever. So it came to me as a surprise when I found
out that most of Ontario’s turtles are actually endangered and at risk of
disappearing in Ontario. In fact, seven out of the eight turtle species found in
Ontario are threatened
and
are in dire need of help in order to maintain populations. The problem with
turtles are that they are extremely long-lived (can live up to 70+ years) and
that they have a late sexual maturation (20-25 years). This makes it hard for
us to study them and pin-point a cause to their decline, especially when action
is required immediately.
So what exactly can we
do to help their numbers from declining? One way we can help our turtles is through a head-start program. A head-start
program is the process in which juveniles (in this case turtle eggs) are raised
in captivity until they reach a certain age, and then they are release back
into the wild. This is exactly what I am doing at the Toronto zoo; where we are
head-starting the Blanding’s turtle.
The
Blanding’s Turtle is one of the threatened species of turtles in Ontario. It
can be easily identified and differentiated from other native turtles by its
yellow throat and jaw. The biggest threats to this species are associated with
humans; ranging from habitat loss due to land development, to being hit by cars
when trying to cross roads due to habitat fragmentation, to predation from urban
wildlife, such as raccoons, coyotes, skunks, etc. Though once numerous, their
numbers have drastically declined, and to help restore their numbers, we are
implementing a head-start program for this species at the zoo. This will help
encourage the young to grow to maturity, where they have a higher success rate
at surviving than when juveniles.
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| Photo from Adopt-a-Pond at Toronto Zoo |
The head-start program
starts off with looking for Blanding’s turtle nests in at-risk locations. These
locations are areas such as crop fields, where the eggs they would not have a
good chance for survival. These eggs are then transported to the Toronto zoo
where they are raised in captivity until they are 2 years old. The reason for
this is to prevent predation. At birth, the turtles are very small and are easy
prey for animals such as raccoons. By raising them until they are 2 in what
could be called a “safe haven” for the turtles, they can grow to a sufficient size
to deter predation once released. By deterring predation, their chances for
survival is increased. Once released,
the turtles are tracked by radio-tracking devices and monitored.
The
really interesting part about this all as a research student working at the
Toronto zoo, is that there a lot of questions around the idea and process of
head-starting. Although head-starting has been successful for sea turtles, its
success is unknown for these freshwater turtles we have in Ontario; including
Blanding’s turtle. The Toronto zoo is invested in this project long term,
especially since the Blanding’s turtle has a late maturation, thus this project
will be heavily research-based to understand the effects head-starting has on
these turtles and whether the protocols are well-suited for the turtles.
Because of this, there is a huge range of flexibility in adjusting or improving
protocols and it is really something that can be applied to other turtle
species around the world.
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| Photo from Adopt-a-Pond at Toronto Zoo |
The Adopt-a-Pond Program
at the Toronto zoo is heavily involved with this project and they are quite
determined to restore our Blanding’s turtle populations. With the release of
these two year old turtles, Adopt-a-Pond is as well restoring their habitat;
wetlands. Not only will these turtles receive help but they will act as an
umbrella species to protect other threatened wetland species as well. Though we
are not 100% certain whether head-starting will restore the Blanding’s turtle
populations, this project is just a step in aiding declining turtle
populations. From this, hopefully we can gain and discover answers to many of
the questions concerning its decline, and eventually manage a long-term
solution. Though
rare today, hopefully one day, I can walk around the Rouge Park and bump into a
yellow-throated turtle.
Here
are some additional links:
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Adopt-a-Pond Blog http://adoptapond.wordpress.com/ - Here, you can follow the Adopt-a-Pond team on their blog.
They post up plenty of blogs following the status of their turtles (including
Blanding’s turtles) and their releases
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Earth Rangers Blog http://www.earthrangers.org/blog/ - Here, you can follow
the Earth Rangers blog (Earth Rangers are in partnership to head-start the
Blanding’s turtle). The website is mostly for children but they have posted up
head-starting blogs.
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