BLANDING’S TURTLE VIDEO: Watch a Rare Species Visit Our Driveway

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My family and I live on Manitoulin Island, Canada. It’s the largest freshwater island in the world and this place has more than its share of unique and endangered animals. Occasionally, some of our homestead wildlife needs a helping hand, as you’ll see in the video below.

I shot this a few years back as my son, Jacob, and I bring a rare Blanding’s turtle back to the lake it wandered away from more than half a mile away. Turtles like this often wander into dangerous areas near roads in spring, as they look for places to lay eggs in sand. This one passed many sandy areas on its way to our driveway, so I’m not sure what it was thinking. Blanding’s turtles are unique even among small turtles in that the live and remain active for a long time. It’s not unusual for a Blanding’s to remain vigorous and reproductive for 80 or 90 years. This is unique amongst small turtles as far as I know.