This week, officials from Shedd Aquarium and the Forest Preserves of Cook County released 11 baby Blanding’s turtles (Emydoidea blandingii) into a forest preserve in south Cook County, helping to bolster the native population of these state-endangered animals. Through a head-start program used to stabilize or re-establish animal populations that have suffered significant declines, the animals were raised for around a year behind-the-scenes at the aquarium by experts who care for over 25 various turtle species. All 11 turtles came from an original female turtle that was gravid, or carrying eggs, and found by Forest Preserves wildlife staff in a Cook County preserve. She was the first Blanding’s turtle to be found in this preserve in nearly two decades, and with the help of the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County, she laid her eggs in a safe environment, from which the hatchlings were then transported to Shedd. During the turtles’ year of rearing at Shedd, the animal care team fed them a variety of live food so that they could learn to catch prey in preparation for their eventual release. Shedd staff also kept contact to a minimum, so the turtles did not become habituated to humans. In preparation for reintroduction to the wild, the turtles were weighed and measured one last time. Staff from Shedd and the Forest Preserves, along with Audubon Great Lakes interns, who are part of the Forest Preserves’ Conservation Corps who are working on ecological restoration at the location, then waded deep into protected wetlands to release the turtles into their natural habitat out of sight of predators.

Photo Credit: Forest Preserves of Cook County