Check Out the 131 Baby Turtles at Lincoln Park Nature Museum

LINCOLN PARK, IL — Don't have weekend plans? Head over to the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum to check out over 100 baby Blanding's turtles that just went on display.

A few months ago, the Nature Museum biology team and the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County went out into the field to find some Blanding's turtles that were ready to lay their eggs. These turtles had a tiny radio transmitter attached to their shell, which gives off a signal that can be tracked using a receiver.

Once the groups located the turtles, they put them into secure laying pens so they could lay their eggs safely. The groups then collected the eggs and put them in an incubator to hatch.

Now, 131 endangered baby Blanding's are at the museum. The babies measure between one-half to one inch and weigh less than an ounce each.

The majority of turtle predation takes place as eggs or during the first two years of life. In order to reduce the risk of this happening, the baby turtles will stay in the museum for their first two years, and then will be released into the wild.

This is all part of a larger effort in collaboration with the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County to help restore the population of these endangered turtles and help re-establish ecological balance to the area.

Photo courtesy of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service/Flickr