Giving Wood Turtles a Big Head Start!

As the land of 10,000+ lakes, Minnesota should be paradise for freshwater turtles. However, for the nine species of freshwater turtles that call Minnesota home, not everything is going swimmingly.

Due to habitat loss, road mortality, nest predation, poaching, and climate change, two of Minnesota’s freshwater turtles, Blanding’s and wood turtles, are now considered threatened species. The Minnesota Zoo’s conservation team has stepped in to help.

The Zoo’s conservation team has been hard at work analyzing and confronting threats facing Minnesota turtles. Using radio telemetry and GPS transmitters, “Team Turtle” can track threatened turtles to learn about habitat use, nesting locations, and more. But that’s not all — the Zoo’s turtle head start program has given wood turtles another reason to shell-abrate!

Each year since the program’s beginning in 2018, the Zoo has incubated wood turtle eggs, hatching and raising them in a controlled environment until they are a year old and ready to be released. This head start allows young turtles to grow safely, provides them with a major size advantage upon release, and can greatly reduce predation risk.

Just this year, the Zoo is on track to release 30 wood turtles into wild homes adding to the more than 100 hatchlings they’ve released to date. Without support from donors like you, essential programs like these would not be possible. Thank you!