Creature Feature: Blanding’s Turtle – Emydoidea blandingii
It’s one of the more ubiquitous turtle species one can find within the Cataraqui Watershed. But just because it’s found far and wide, particularly in and around wetlands and heavily vegetated shallow lakes, doesn’t mean the Blanding’s Turtle’s future is lock-tight secure.
In fact, the species is considered to be ‘threatened,’ or ‘at-risk’ which means that if steps aren’t taken to help preserve it, the mid-sized reptile could easily slip into the ‘endangered’ category, which would be a catastrophe for them, but also a proverbial gut-punch to aquatic biodiversity – which is bad for us all!
The reasons why it is threatened and teetering on the brink of being endangered is because many of this species of turtle, much like the larger snapping turtle, are killed by vehicles as they’re crossing roadways, as well as through loss of habitat due to encroaching human development.
Under the current Ontario Endangered Species Act, both the Blanding’s Turtle species and its habitat are supposed to be protected, which includes the creation and implementation of a recovery strategy.
Besides appearing throughout southern, central and eastern Ontario, in Canada, Blanding’s turtles are also found in southwestern Quebec (close to the Ontario border) as well as in southern Nova Scotia.
Ontario Nature, in describing them, says that they have a ‘very domed, smooth black carapace’ or shell, which is accurate when you see the elevation of the top of the shell from the body of the animal, compared to say the lower shells on Painted, Snapping and Mud turtles.
Blanding’s are considered to be of middle size, with it’s most distinctive attribute, besides a ‘very domed’ shell, is its bright yellow throat reaching up to its chin, giving it a pronounced ‘smile’ when seen head on.
Both males and females may travel long distances from their home habitat, including to places where there isn’t much in the way of watercourses or wetlands, to breed and lay eggs. Again, similar to the more common snapping turtle, this behaviour is what leads directly to so many turtle fatalities on our roads.
Most aquatic turtle species prefer to do all their dining within their watery homes, but the Blanding’s turtle is unique in that it is rather omnivorous, preferring a smorgasbord that also includes frogs, crayfish, insects, small fish and a variety of green leafy plants.
Blanding’s turtles prefer to live in areas where there is an abundance of marshes, swamps, ponds, slow-flowing creeks and within the shallow bays of lakes. Nests are made close to the water in sunny areas, as the heat helps the eggs develop, but also makes them a little more visible and tempting to potential predators.
Mating generally takes place during the late spring and summer, with females producing what is called a ‘clutch’ of eggs once every one to three years. The size of the clutch can vary from just one to two dozen eggs, with six to 13 being about average. Hatchlings usually emerge from early August to late October, and as with many other aquatic turtle species, the sex is determined by temperature, meaning cooler temperatures produce males, while warmer temperatures produce females.
Throughout its North American Habitat, the Blanding’s turtle doesn’t reach maturity until somewhere between 14 and 26 years of age, with the ones in Canada at the upper end of this range. Sadly, the survival rate for most freshwater turtle babies is very low, with less than one per cent making it past the egg, hatchling and even young juvenile stage. If they make it to adulthood, though, Blanding’s Turtles have been recorded as living to more than 80 years of age, with the long life necessary because of the lengthy maturation process.
Besides the deaths caused by interactions with humans, other predators include racoons, foxes and skunks, which focus on the adult species, while turtle hatchlings can fall prey to squirrels, chipmunks, shrews, large birds, fish and snakes.
Returning to the concept of protecting this important species, there are actions property owners throughout the Cataraqui Region can take to help Blanding’s turtles come back in greater numbers. If you happen to find some of these turtles living on your property, you may be eligible for stewardship programs that help to improve their survival. Even if you don’t have this specific species on your property, if you have any wetlands on your property, you can protect that area as well as the surrounding natural vegetation to keep it safe for many other plant, animal, insect and aquatic species.
- Sources: The Canadian Encyclopedia, Wikipedia, Ontarionature.org, www.ontario.ca, Frontenac Arch Biosphere,