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Turtle Guardians

Kids & Communities Helping Ontario's Turtles

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  • About
    • Why Saving Turtles is Important?
    • What is a Turtle Guardian?
    • Become a guardian
    • Partners & supporters
    • The Land Between – Ontario’s Turtle Country
    • Contact
  • What is a Turtle Guardian?
    • Level 1 – Turtle ID & Turtle Camp
    • Level 2- Wetland Monitoring and Turtle Nest Protection
    • Level 3 – Road Research, Turtle Tunnels & Conservation
    • Level 4 & 5- Science permits
  • Volunteering
    • Become a Turtle Guardian
    • Road Researchers
      • Road Researchers Registration
      • Road Researcher Workshops
      • Road Researcher Tools and Reporting
    • Nest Sitters
      • Nest Sitters Registration
      • Nest Sitters Workshops
      • Turtle Nest Sitters Training and Reporting Forms
    • Wetland Watchers
      • Wetland Watcher Registration
      • Wetland Watcher Workshops
      • Wetland Watcher Protocols and Reporting
    • Turtle Tunnel Assessors
      • Turtle Tunnel Assessor Registration Form
      • Turtle Tunnel Workshops
      • Turtle Tunnel Assessment
    • Turtle Walk 2019
  • Turtle Conservation
    • Why Saving Turtles is Important?
    • So you found a turtle…
    • Helping a turtle across the road
    • Turtle Nesting
    • Snapping turtles & your lake
    • Helping Turtles Around Your Property
    • Turtle Recovery Campaign
      • T5 Campaign
  • Learning Resources
    • Turtle Facts
    • Turtle identification
      • Parts of a turtle
      • Blanding’s Turtle
      • Map turtle
      • Painted turtle
      • Snapping turtle
      • Spiny softshell turtle
      • Spotted turtle
      • Stinkpot turtle/Musk turtle
      • Wood turtle
    • Turtle Habitats
      • Lakes and Rivers
      • Ponds and Marshes
      • Swamps and Carrs
      • Bogs and Fens
    • School Curriculums
      • Intermediate (Grades 7-10)
      • Junior (Grades 4-6)
      • Primary (K-3) Grades
    • Research Reports
      • Habitat Requirements and Biology
    • The Land Between. Ontario’s Turtle Country
  • Why Saving Turtles is Important?
  • Donate
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  • Become a Turtle Guardian
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Why Saving Turtles is Important?

Turtles are Keystone Species

A Keystone species is an animal whose role in the food-web is essential to an entire chain of linked species, habitats, and ecosystem services. This means that without them the ecosystem can collapse and elements can be sorely compromised.

When it comes to turtles, they are essential in maintaining water quality by removing the sources of harmful bacteria - Turtles eat carcasses of fish and animals that die in lakes and wetlands. Turtles are also essential in keeping fish habitat and wetland areas thriving! Turtles, as they age, eat more and more seeds and vegetable matter, rather than protein. They cycle nutrients in their guts and shells, and with the seeds in their guts, as they walk through their territories, they spread and encourage new life and new growth. Therefore, while beavers in the region keep water on the land, turtles spread biodiversity so that wetland habitats thrive. Over 70% of Ontario's wildlife depends on wetlands and shorelands, therefore Turtles are supporting a majority of our fish and wildlife...which along with good water quality, supports our wellbeing too!

Turtle Populations are Critically in Decline

Turtles can take between 30 and 60 years to replace themselves in Nature- that means it takes this long for them to have one successful offspring. Turtles can take between 8 and 20 years to reach sexual maturity- and then, there are so many challenges that eggs, then hatchlings, and then juvenile turtles face in Nature and which obstacles are made worse by humans! Only 0.06% of eggs hatch and then hatchlings survive to reach adulthood. Adult turtles do not face many natural threats and the older the turtle, the more eggs they typically lay. Therefore adults are essential to keep populations stable. And adults, including all ages of turtles are being hit on roads, removed from nature for pets, or are deliberately killed because people are afraid of them (as is the case with Snapping Turtles). Therefore we have lost about 70% of our turtles in Ontario.

Why Know-How is Needed Before Helping

Many people feel that taking hatchlings or juvenile turtles home to care for them is helpful. Unfortunately, this only makes things worse. Hatchlings need to remain in nature because they imprint their territories in their minds, and this mind-map cannot be remade when they are older. Therefore if they are not left in nature, they will not be ab

le to find annual hibernation sites, feeding areas and survive into the future.  Also turtles navigate using the sun as an east west clock, and may have magnetite in their brains to show them where north is. Once they imprint a territory, they know exactly where they are going! and where they have been too! For instance, they will hibernate within one metre of where they were the year before! When turtles are removed from their territories, they get distressed and may stop eating as they try to return home, or may die trying as they journey to find home. Indeed even if they find hibernation and feeding grounds, without a map of the area they are in, this success cannot be long lasting.

Therefore, if there are Turtle Guardians who are trained, skilled and knowledgeable in our communities, and each who helps turtles, turtles will have a chance to survive and their populations may even thrive!

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Recent News

  • Bridging Communities Through Experiences with Public Art and Nature
  • New Children’s Book to Save Turtles_ Never Give Up_ Now in Ojibwa and English
  • Turtle Calendars Raise Funds for Tunnels
  • Jeremiah is on the Move!
  • A Donation of Art to Support Turtle Conservation

Turtle Guardians is a program of The Land Between charity and invaluable partners. www.thelandbetween.ca

Contact Turtle Guardians at 705-457-1222 info@turtleguardians.ca

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Kids & Communities Saving Turtles 🇨🇦 A National Charity to Help Our Oldest Relatives. 🐢 Follow us on Facebook or find us online @turtleguardians

Snapping turtles only leave the water when travell Snapping turtles only leave the water when travelling between habitats or to lay their eggs. They are much more vulnerable on land and "snap" to defend themselves because they don't fit in their shells to hide. Snapping turtles have no natural threats in the water and so rarely leave that their shells are often covered in algae!⠀
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Photo credit: Mara Koenig/USFWS⠀
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#turtleguardians #thelandbetween #snappingturtle #turtlefacts #ontarioturtles #algae #turtleconservation #turtlesofinstagram #wildlifebiology #turtles
Will is our Turtle Caretaker at the TG Headquarter Will is our Turtle Caretaker at the TG Headquarters. He comes in once a week to change the water, feed, and provide physiotherapy to our turtles with limitations. Will has a way with turtles, he knows what they need and has even invented a spinal sweep that calms down the snappers. He simply strokes the carapace along the spine and voila- happy turtle. Snapping turtles, like all turtles, can feel through their carapace because their spine, ribs and corresponding nerves are all one unit; turtles are their shells! Thanks Will, for being such a turtley cool staffer!⠀
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#turtleguardians #thelandbetween #snappingturtles #ontarioturtles #essentialservices #turtleycool #turtleconservation #turtlesofinstagram #reptilesofinstagram #rescueanimals #turtles
We are already looking forward to the 2021 turtle We are already looking forward to the 2021 turtle season! Hopefully after a year of staying at home there there will be more people than ever outside and helping turtles across the road! Always move a turtle in the direction it was travelling! All turtles, including this blanding's turtle, know exactly where they are going. ⠀
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#turtleguardians #thelandbetween #blandingsturtle #ontarioturtles #speciesatrisk #wildlifeconservation #turtleconservation #watch4turtles #roadecology⠀
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Photo credit: Xavier Tuson
We’ve moved the cameras at the Turtle Guardians We’ve moved the cameras at the Turtle Guardians Headquarters and have noticed that each night these two turtles move to face each other. Timothy is a large male snapper that is ~100 years old and unable to use his back legs, and Jeremiah is a large female snapper that is ~ 75 years old with limited mobility in her back legs. We can't help but wonder if they're trying to communicate... Betty and Otis, the two red-eared sliders, do the exact same thing! Wonder what they’re saying?⠀
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#turtleguardians #thelandbetween #petcam #snappingturtle #jeremiah #timothy #ontarioturtles #turtleconservation #turtlesofinstagram #reptilesofinstagram
Jeremiah is a female common snapping turtle that w Jeremiah is a female common snapping turtle that was hit by a car and left with her back legs paralyzed. Luckily, turtles can regrow nerve tissue so there is hope for her recovery! The Turtle Guardians staff take turns going into the office during lockdown to feed the turtles, and to give Jeremiah her physio and skateboarding time (look out Tony Hawk). The muscles in her back legs are getting stronger every week and she loves to roll around the office! ⠀
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#turtleguardians #thelandbetween #turtleconservation #essentialservices #turtlesofinstagram #snappingturtle #reptilesofinstagram #jeremiah #wildlifeconservation #skateboard #tonyhawk
Everyone is looking for new hobbies during lockdow Everyone is looking for new hobbies during lockdown, including Betty, our red-eared slider. While there are still some staff at the Turtle Guardians Headquarters (with permission - essential services for wildlife care) it is not nearly as exciting without any tours coming through. It is safe to say that turtles are looking forward to some company after the lockdown is over!⠀
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#turtleguardians #thelandbetween #redearedslider #turtleconservation #ontariolockdown #essentialservices #turtlesofinstagram #reptilesofinstagram #baking #newhobbies #bakedgoods
This painted turtle's yoga pose isn't just for sho This painted turtle's yoga pose isn't just for show, turtles stretch out to expose as much of their body as possible to the sun. As cold blooded animals, this allows them to absorb more heat and regulate their internal body temperature!⠀
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#turtleguardians #thelandbetween #paintedturtle #ontarioturtles #turtlefacts #reptilefacts #coldblooded #turtleyoga #yogapose
Snapping turtles, along with all of Ontario's turt Snapping turtles, along with all of Ontario's turtles, help keep aquatic habitats safe and clean for swimming! 

#turtleguardians #thelandbetween #snappingturtle #turtleconservation #tiktok #turtlefacts #ontarioturtles #biodiversity #protectnature
Back to reality today. We are excited to see what Back to reality today. We are excited to see what 2021 has in store; hopefully it is lots of nesting turtles and even more hatchlings! ⠀
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#turtleguardians #thelandbetween #snappingturtle #ontarioturtles #nestingturtle #2021 #turtleconservation #watch4turtles
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