Lecture 7b: Animal Reintroductions (Blanding's Turtle)

Question 1

About the Blanding’s turtle

Answer 1

• lifespan of 80+ years
• shallow wetlands: marshes, fens, bogs
• low survival in early life stages, high survival in adult hood

Question 2

Threats to the Turtle

Answer 2

• construction sites -> habitat loss
• roadkill
• subsidized predation -> humans attract predators such as racoons, otters, foxes
• illegal trading of turtles
• climate change (change sex of eggs)

Question 3

Egg collection and incubation

Answer 3

• collect the eggs from the wild
• don’t have the animals breeding
• have to collect the eggs right away
• mother would lay and then cover them up making it difficult to obtain
• have to search for the mother
• stay in the incubator once collected
• easiest stage since they don’t need a lot of attention
• egg collection and incubation has increased throughout the years

Question 4

Human Care (first years of life)

Answer 4

live in the American pavillion

Question 5

Human Care (second year of life)

Answer 5

• moved to the zoo’s wildlife health centre
• dark tanks
• UV light to supplement sunlight so they can metabolize calcium to harden their shells
• dry and aquatic areas
• areas of vegetation

Question 6

Human Care (Final month)

Answer 6

• move them to outdoor cultures
• larger
• fenced to keep predators out
• gives them time to experience temperature change, sun rising, wind changes which they can’t indoors
• acts as a “bootcamp”

Question 7

Release Day

Answer 7

• release them into the wild
• used a canoe to make sure they are spread out
• if a predator comes, all are gone

Question 8

Indicators of success

Answer 8

• able to survive harsh winters
• sustainable survival and mortality rates
• breeding activity and wild eggs

Question 9

Post-release monitoring

Answer 9

• each turtle gets a transmitter picked up by the antenna and receiver
• each transmitter has a unique frequency
• can locate and monitor them

Question 10

Population Viability Analysis

Answer 10

• type of statistical analysis
• VORTEX is the program commonly used
• predict population size and probability of extinction of population in the future
• create a mathematical model with information that is specific to the population that you are working with
• variables can include population size, age of first reproduction, mortality rates ad different ages
• compare different scenarios

Question 11

Next steps for the Blanding’s Turtle

Answer 11

• 2021 and 2022 cohorts in captivity
• release in 2023 and 2024
• egg collection will begin for the 2023 cohort
• update PVA, add methods when necessary
• continue post-release monitoring
• publish findings