Southern Ontario: A Fast Disappearing Haven For Turtles

    Turtles, one of the most beloved reptiles, have worked their way into the hearts of many. They move in a slow, endearing way, and symbolize a variety of things across various cultures: wisdom and knowledge, the land and water, longevity, stability, resilience, endurance, and more. Eating fruit, basking in the sun, hiking through the living room, chasing the dog, and hanging out on the laps of her people are some of the hobbies held by my pet red-footed tortoise named George (below). Unknown to George are her wild relatives, who are facing threats of extinction. These reptiles, around for over 200 million years, may seem ageless. Despite this, over half of the world's living turtle species are now species at risk. The good news: if you live in Southern Ontario, turtles are just a step out the door, waiting for you to notice and protect them.

    Southern Ontario, home to an abundance of wetland habitat and a warm climate relative to the rest of Canada, hosts the highest density and diversity of native turtles in the country. Eight native species of freshwater turtles call Southern Ontario home: eastern snapping turtles, spiny softshell turtles, eastern musk turtles, midland painted turtles, spotted turtles, Blanding's turtles, wood turtles, and northern map turtles. For all the local turtle lovers, you need not look farther than the swamps, ponds, and rivers in your backyard to find a turtle. My dad and I once found a disoriented snapping turtle hatchling in our front yard. It was far from water, and almost completely dried out. We transferred it to a container with a rock and shallow water, and brought it to a slow-moving marshy section of the Trent River canal, home to other snapping turtles, where it quickly swam away (photo right).

    Turtles emerge from brumation (the reptile equivalent of hibernation) during March-April, when temperatures first start rising. This is the start of turtle season (the time of year turtles are active). If you're paying close attention, you may see them moving from wetland to wetland above ground--on the move to find food and mates. Mating occurs in early spring underwater, soon after they become active. Additionally, you may see hatchlings emerge in April and May. These turtles hatched the previous fall and stayed in their nest overwinter. Unsurprisingly, this tactic is called "overwintering," and is common among midland painted turtles and northern map turtles.

 

Midland Painted Turtle

Northern Map Turtle

    Once their eggs are ready to lay, typically between May and July, the mother turtle will seek out an open area with loose, sandy soil to lay her eggs. She may walk up to six kilometres (notably, Blanding's turtles do this) to find a suitable nesting site, traversing many roads in the process. Shorelines, beaches, or perhaps the nice gravelly shoulder of a road are all perfect candidates in her mind. Often, turtles will start digging a nest and then abandon it to dig another one instead. This is called a false nest, and is made to test soil conditions and confuse predators. Snapping turtles in particular are known for this behaviour. While turtle watching, don't watch nesting too closely, as the turtle may mistake YOU for a predator!

    Once the eggs are laid and buried, the mother returns to her day-to-day business of being a turtle; basking and foraging. Once she leaves, birds and mammals often eat all of her eggs. After all the effort the nesting female took to find the perfect site, only 1% of eggs laid result in offspring surviving to breeding age. This high hatchling mortality results in turtles taking decades just to replace themselves in the population. If the nest is left undisturbed, these lucky hatchlings will emerge from August to October and head immediately to water. If you are lucky, perhaps you will witness this flood of hatchlings. Painted and map turtles will hatch later, and remain in their nest until the following spring. These hatchlings must escape predation and human threats for another 10-20 years before they are able to lay eggs of their own.

    In fall, turtles travel to permanent water bodies in which to spend the winter. Mating often peaks again as the turtles congregate in preparation for brumation. The females are able to store the sperm for their next clutch of eggs in the spring. These females follow "waste not, want not" like a pro. In late October and early November, the turtles bury themselves under the mud and sand at the bottom of ponds and lakes, where they will enter brumation until the following spring. This marks the end of turtle season.

    While the turtles go about their day-to-day lives, they play a crucial role in the ecosystem. They act as custodians, seed dispersers, nutrient recyclers, and habitat creators. Talk about a full schedule! When they are young, they scavenge the carcasses of fish and other animals, which would otherwise promote the growth of harmful bacteria in the water. As they age, their protein needs decrease, so their diet switches to higher amounts of vegetation. They prevent harmful algae blooms by eating algae and dead vegetation. They also eat the seeds of aquatic plants and spread them to new areas during their travels, maintaining old habitats and creating new ones. Turtles are so important to their aquatic homes that they are considered a keystone species. If turtles were to disappear, the health of the wetlands would follow.

    Unfortunately for the turtles and wetlands, all eight species of Ontario's native turtles are species at risk. This means they are in danger of disappearing--being extirpated from Ontario or going extinct altogether. 

    The problems started with the settlers. The warm climate, fertile soil, and abundance of freshwater in Southern Ontario were perfect for development. This made it the perfect site for some of the first European settlements in North America. Since then, our population has boomed. The only thing that could get in the way of further development was all the annoying wetlands that dotted the landscape. Our solution: drain and fill 75% of Ontario's wetlands to continue. Who could have guessed that would be a bad idea? 

    Ontario's turtles now face a fragmented habitat, a fraction of its former size, divided by an abundance of roads. Turtles must cross more roads than ever before, and many nesting females are choosing the shoulders as nest sites in the wake of the destruction of their habitat. If you've ever driven past a snapping turtle forming a nest, you can see just how precarious this behaviour is. Understandably, habitat loss and road mortality are the two biggest threats our turtles face. Other forces opposing the survival of these reptiles include competition from the invasive red-eared slider turtle for the few remaining resources, pollution, climate change, boat traffic, and illegal collection for the food and pet trade.

    The plight of the turtles has not gone unnoticed. The Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre (OTCC) is an organization dedicated to protecting Ontario's native turtles from extinction. I first learned about this turtle-saving group during a Grade 11 field trip to Alderville Black Oak Savanna. The OTCC runs a turtle hospital where they treat injured turtles from anywhere in Ontario and release them back into the wild. Since turtles take so long to mature and produce a surviving offspring, every turtle is a crucial member of its species. As an extension of the turtle hospital, the OTCC also incubates the eggs of any egg-bearing female they receive, and releases the hatchlings into the wild. This greatly increases the number of hatchlings that survive. The actions of the OTCC provide a time buffer for a long-term conservation plan to be implemented. The protection of Ontario's wetlands and the development of safe ways for turtles to cross roads are two factors involved.

    But it doesn't end there. Community involvement is needed in the race to save Ontario's turtles. Read below to learn what YOU can do to help save these beloved reptiles.

How To Help:

1. If you find an injured turtle anywhere in Ontario, call the Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre (OTCC) at 705-741-5000. Even if the turtle looks like it's dead or too far gone, the turtle hospital may still be able to save it, or in the case of a nesting female, at least save its eggs.
2. Watch for turtles crossing the road in April-October. Be especially alert during June, the peak of nesting season. If you see a turtle crossing the road, pull over to the side of the road if it is safe to do so, and help the turtle across in the direction it was travelling. Check out this post by the Government of Canada to learn how to safely help a turtle cross the road. Take extra note with snapping turtles.
3. Participate in a local conservation project to protect turtles. This may include building and deploying nest protectors, creating road mortality mitigation structures, monitoring turtle populations, or driving injured turtles to the turtle hospital in Peterborough. Click here to view a map of turtle conservation projects across Ontario to find one near you. Tip: Change the filter at the top of the map from "All" to "Volunteers."
4. If you see a nesting female, keep your distance since getting too close can cause her to abandon the nest, or to become egg-bound (unable to lay her eggs), which will result in death without veterinary care. Once the mother has left, you can report the nesting site to the Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre or Turtle Guardians. If the turtle nested on your property, you can also build and deploy a nest protector. This article by the Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre explains how to do so correctly.

5. Spread the word about the importance of protecting Ontario's turtles and how to do so. If the right person hears your message, that can make the difference between life and death for a turtle in need.

Have you ever seen a turtle in the wild? What was it like? Let me know in the comments below!