2023
Hatchling and Head-start Project
Granted $7,500.00 for Head-starting hatchlings and field work
Projective Objectives:
Approximately half of the admissions of injured at-risk turtles to the OTCC turtle hospital are females carrying eggs, OTCC ensures that the eggs are saved and incubated, and the resulting hatchlings are released back to their mother’s source wetlands. Release of hatchlings helps to mitigate the reproductive loss of injured female turtles, while also replenishing declining population levels (all eight species of native Ontario turtles are listed as at risk by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada). Additionally, our field work study is in it’s 12th year, tracking our head-started Blanding’s turtles and comparing them alongside a group of wild-hatched Blanding’s turtles of comparable size. Currently we are tracking 38 juvenile Blanding’s turtles via radio telemetry. The research allows us to compare the movement patterns, behavior, growth, and survival between the two groups. Evaluation of the success of management strategies such as head-starting is noted as a priority action in the Wood Turtle Recovery Strategy.
