Our Zoo
What Animal wears sunglasses all the time?
Meerkat
This large Ontario turtle has a long tail, powerful jaws, and a rough shell.
Snapping Turtle
Turtles often sit on logs in the sun to perform this temperature-regulating behaviour.
Basking
True or false: All Ontario turtles spend their entire lives in water.
False
This built-in “shield” protects a turtle's body from predators and injuries.
Their Shell.
What does Gobi store in his humps?
Fat
This colourful turtle has yellow stripes and red or orange markings around the edge of its shell.
Midland Painted Turtle
Female turtles dig into soil, gravel, or sand to create this structure for their eggs.
Nest
True or false: Turtles can leave their shells like hermit crabs.
False
A snapping turtle's powerful jaws help make up for the fact that it can't completely do this for protection.
Pull its head and limbs into its shell
What animal only comes down once a week to eat and poo?
This turtle has a yellow chin and throat and a highly domed shell covered with yellow flecks.
Blanding's Turtle
Ontario's freshwater turtles spend the coldest months of the year doing this underwater.
True or false: A turtle's shell is a living part of its body.
True
Painted turtles can survive Ontario winters beneath ice by dramatically slowing down this process that uses energy.
Metabolism and heart rate
What does Steve eat?
Seeds and grains, Berries and other fruits, Leaves, Insects such as grasshoppers, beetles, and ants, Snails, Small frogs and lizards, Small snakes
This turtle gets its name from the thin yellow lines on its shell that resemble markings on a map.
Northern Map Turtle
This behaviour involves turtles moving between habitats, sometimes over considerable distances, to find food, mates, nesting areas, or overwintering sites.
Migration
True or false: The temperature of a turtle's nest can influence whether hatchlings are male or female.
True
A Blanding's Turtle has an impressive lifespan and can live for approximately this many years or more.
70+ years
How long can Lyle and Irwin hold their breath?
60 - 90 minutes
This tiny, secretive turtle can release a strong-smelling musk when threatened.
Eastern Musk Turtle
Female turtles often leave the water in late spring and early summer for this important reproductive activity.
laying eggs / nesting
True or false: Snapping turtles can safely be picked up by their tails.
False
Some Ontario turtles can take up small amounts of oxygen underwater through specialized tissues near this unusual body opening.
Cloaca