Duncan Smith: Blanding's Turtles

By Gabriel L.

February 7, 2004

Blanding's Turtle

On Saturday, February 7, Duncan Smith gave a talk about Blanding's Turtles. Duncan is from Nova Scotia and has been studying Blanding's turtles for 15 years. We learned some interesting facts about these turtles:

They breathe in and out of their cloaca in the winter, when they hook onto the sides of streams.
Strangely enough, Blanding's Turtles don't lay their eggs on sandy beaches. They lay them on rocky beaches. After they are done digging the hole for their eggs, they put every rock and blade of grass back into place.
No one knows for sure why there are Blanding's Turtles in Nova Scotia. Blanding's Turtles are normally found a little further south. But there are three small populations in Nova Scotia and scientists think they got there during a warm period. They have moved to the centre of Southern Nova Scotia because it is the furthest from the ocean, and the warmest spot.
Predators include blue herons, shrews, raccoons and even ants, who sometimes eat baby turtles.

There are Blanding's Turtles in our area. You can recognize them by the shell, which is much higher and rounder than other turtles. There is yellow on the plastron and under the neck of the males.

This is a link to Duncan's website: http://conservation.arcadiau.ca

I hope you see a Blanding's Turtle this summer!

Back to Most Recent Meeting

All Meeting Reports

Jan. 8, 2005 - Shawna Lee Currie: Riding Mountain National Park
Nov. 29, 2004 - John Waithaka: African Elephants
May 15, 2004 - Vishu Gurram: Point Pelee National Park
Feb. 7, 2004 - Duncan Smith: Blanding's Turtles
Jan. 23, 2004 - Maryse Mahy: The Bay of Fundy
Dec. 5, 2003 - Rob Lee: Cutting Down the Old Growth Forests
Sept. 27, 2003 - Martha Camfield's workshop on seeds

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