56 threatened Blanding’s turtles released into Iowa wild after being raised at Blank Park Zoo

By Olivia Tyler

Click here for updates on this story

    IOWA (KCCI) — In central Iowa, 56 Blanding’s turtle hatchlings were released into their natural habitat on Wednesday, marking the conclusion of a three-year collaborative project involving the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, the Blank Park Zoo and Iowa State University.

The baby turtles, born about a year ago from adult Blanding’s turtles found in Iowa wetlands, now carry transmitters to help officials gather data on their movements and learn more about the threatened species.

“The zoo’s kept them over the winter for us, and they’ve kept them awake instead of allowing them to go to sleep for the winter,” said Karen Kinkead, wildlife diversity program coordinator for the Iowa DNR. “So they’ve grown bigger than they would in the wild. Because they’re bigger, it will be harder for some of their natural predators to swallow them whole.”

Elizabeth Lang, an Iowa State student involved in the project, expressed her thoughts on the turtles, saying, “People don’t know a lot about them. Iowans don’t know they’re here. They’re super cool, super ecologically important. I’m definitely a bit nervous. I hope that they do really well out there.”

Lang and her fellow technicians will be out every day until July, using the tags they put on the turtles to track data and check on them.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.