15 endangered turtles to be released at Royal Botanical Gardens

Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG) will be releasing 15 blanding’s turtles into their wetlands at Cootes Paradise on Thursday afternoon.

RBG says this initiative is crucial for the conservation and population recovery of this endangered species.

Seven blanding’s turtles were released earlier this year for the same reason.

RBG says they restored viable habitats in Cootes Paradise for the turtles.

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They continue to work on restoring inflowing water quality and creating barriers on roads near the marsh to reduce turtle road mortality.

Another way that RBG helps with the population recovery of these turtles is by ensuring they have a balanced sex ratio and genetic diversity.

Since the sex of blanding’s turtles is determined by temperature the unhatched eggs are in, zoologists are able to manipulate the sex of the turtle.

The turtles will be released at RBG located on 335 Longwood Rd. in Hamilton.