Any guesses about when (or if) we’ll see Bruce again this year?
Long-time followers will know that Bruce is one of our favorite Vermont #WoodTurtles, and he is often one of the very first we see each spring, despite not having a radio transmitter.
What do #WoodTurtles do to survive the winter?
Like most turtles, they overwinter underwater, surviving for months without breathing air as long as the water stays very cold.
At sites where #WoodTurtles live, even routine trail maintenance can be dangerous to them. In this case, raising mower blades to 7 inches may have saved the turtle’s life, but a best-case scenario for Wood Turtles, is to restrict mowing to late fall or early spring when the turtles are not on land.
#WoodTurtles are opportunistic omnivores, which is a fancy way of saying they eat a little of everything, but we were not expecting to find this one feasting on a pile of day-old horse dung on our walk back from a habitat restoration planning session.
Text: Wood Turtle. Orange circle: Threatened Species at Risk. Central image of a Wood Turtle on a flat stone base. The Turtle is looking to the right with brown skin except the orange-yellow, reddish colour on the legs and neck. The carapace is 16-25 cm, with uniquely pointed grayish-brown scutes. The plastron is yellow with black blotched. Text: The Nova Scotian Wood Turtle is a medium-sized terrestrial semi-aquatic turtle weighing 1 Kg. Threatened by roads, habitat loss, and the illegal pet industry. #NSWildifeSpotlight #WoodTurtle #SpeciesAtRisk Logo Image: Museum of Natural History a part of the NSM.
#WoodTurtles need freshwater stream along with a mix of forested and flatter landscapes. The Nova Scotian population is estimated at 2,000 – 7,000 turtles. Threats come from roads, agriculture, habitat loss, and the illegal pet industry. novascotia.ca/natr/wildlif...
Title page: Nova Scotia Wildlife Spotlight. Species at risk. Five coloured circles from left to right: Yellow is for endangered, orange is for threatened, pink is for vulnerable, violet is for extirpated, navy blue is for extinct. Image of the sky looking through trees from below. A weekly post spotlighting a different species currently at risk in Nova Scotia. #NSWildlifeSpotlight. Logo: Museum of Natural History a part of the NSM.
#WoodTurtles are THREATENED in NS. A medium-sized terrestrial semi-aquatic turtle. Brown skin with orange-yellow or reddish colour on their legs & neck. The carapace has uniquely shaped grayish-brown scutes. The plastron is yellow with black blotched. #NSWildifeSpotlight #SpeciesAtRisk
We’ve seen plenty of #WoodTurtles with a serious case of “slug face,” but this one might just take the cake!
Wood Turtles just doing their thing.
#respectnotfear #woodturtles #usarkmember #conservationmatters #dzzspotreptarium #responsiblereptilekeeping
Happy World Turtle Day!
We're shellebrating by sharing some amazing clips of #WoodTurtles from the Northeast. At The Orianne Society, we’re committed to conserving imperiled reptiles and amphibians — and turtles are a big part of that mission.
Learn more: www.oriannesociety.org
Kiley recently beat his personal record for the most #WoodTurtles seen in one day when he and a group of NRCS staff found a whopping 30! NRCS biologists were there to learn how to identify and restore Wood Turtle habitat. They would have been happy to just see one or two #turtles.
Root the wood turtle uses a mobility aid to get around inside the Museum of Natural History in Halifax. (Frances Willick/CBC)
Root is missing his right front foot, but staff at the museum don't know what caused him to lose it. (Frances Willick/CBC)
Meet #Root, the turtle with a mobility aid made of #Lego 🎥
#WoodTurtles #Reptiles #Wildlife #Disabled #AnimalRescue #AnimalWelfare #AnimalRights #Conservation #NovaScotia #Canada 🇨🇦
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Wood Turtle basking on a stream bank in Vermont––blue skies, evergreen trees and the stream in the background.
It’s that time of year when Kiley Briggs, our Director of #Conservation, is patiently waiting for #WoodTurtles to emerge at his northern #Vermont sites. Often, that turtle is Bruce. Fingers crossed for a Bruce sighting very soon!
